ASHY PETREL.
108. Oceanodroma homochroa. 7 inches.
This species breeds most abundantly on the Farallone Islands, sooty gray in color, their plumage matching their surroundings so closely that, unless one is looking for them, they will easily be overlooked.
They sit very close when nesting, and will even allow themselves to be removed from the nest by hand, so tame are they. They build in burrows or in any crevice of the rocks, laying their single white egg on the ground or rock without much, if any, lining to the nest.
CORMORANTS—Family Phalacrocoracidæ.
FARALLONE CORMORANT.
120c. Phalacrocorax auritus albociliatus. 30 inches.
Plumage glossy greenish black, with back and wings slaty. These birds breed in large numbers on the Farallones, placing their nests well up on the higher ridges and also in the trees on some of the inland islands, or near large ponds or lakes. They build large nests of sticks and roots, lined with grass, seaweed and moss.
Nest.—Three to five chalky, greenish white eggs are laid (2.40 × 1.50).