The herald., 1897-05-09

| pastures and yield large revenue to
their owners from this source. Santa
Catalina is famous resort, thronged ir
summer by Californians and visited in
winter by eastern tourists.
The islands lie in the Japanese current,
Kurosiwo, warm body of water which
sweeps down the Pacific coast, temper
ing the entire region and giving the ISL
ands a semi-tropic climate, even mildec
than the mainland, and conditions that
in the future must give them high rank
as health resorts.
To the lover of nature these submerg-
ed mountains offer many attractions
The deep canyons, with their innumer-
able tints of green; the masses of wild
flowers from the rich yellow poppy to
the delicate mariposa lily; the vivid con-
trast of the island green to the deep blue
of the ocean, all charm the eye and ap-
peal to the fancy The flora of these ISL
ands is singular and has induced bot
anist, Prof. T. S. Brandegee, to say:
"It has been suggested that these ISL
ands are the remnants of western At
lantis." The botanical arguments in ia
vor Of the theory are drawn principally
from the fora of Santa Cruz island and
consist mainly of new species. Over 400
species of plants are found on Santa Cat
alma, many being rare on the mainland
and some entirely new. Out OF the list
of 612 species found on the islands, 20
have not been found on the mainland
and IL of the latter are found on the ISL
ands Of Lower California. Animal life
is more or less restricted. Birds are here
in great numbers. At San Clemente,
fifty miles off shore, is found the booted,
ratchet-tailed humming bird, while at
Santa Catalina various humming birds
throng the eucalyptus trees when they
are In blossom.
I was surprised by the number of bald
eagles at the latter island, counting fifty
during a trip around the island. They
build in the inaccessible rocks along
shore, and fish after the habit of the
great sea eagle. The sea birds-gulls,
grebes, pelicaus. sandpipers, and others
| abound in great numbers. The peli-
leans frequent the bays and are the
victims of the laughing gulls that alight
upon their backs and snatch from them
the fish which they capture in their
clumsy dives. The gull, in rising, Is
sometimes followed by a large hawk,
which forces it to give up it's prey seiz-
ing the dropping morsel just as it reach
es the water. But before this second
thief can attain the shore bald eagle
espies the cleaning tidbit, and then be-
gins a long chase, the hawk rising in
great circles to lofty altitude, followed
by the eagle, that ultimately forces 1t,
in turn to relinquish the prey.
CUNNING OF THE RAVENS
Perhaps the most interesting birds on
Santa Catalina are the ravens, which
live near the little town of Avalon, and
amuse themselves by pulling vocal
corks and robbing the fishermen. The
methods of these birds well illustrate
their cunning. Two birds have been seen
to approach mother hen, placing them
selves on either side Of the brood, ap-
parently engaged in hunting for insects.
Suddenly one raven would jump up and
down in an absurd manner that was
resented by the hen, which rushed for
ward to the attack. This left the brood
unprotected, an opportunity which the
second raven made the most of by rush
ing in and seizing q chick. This game,
was told by an observer, has been
played upon hen by a pair Of ravens
until the little family was almost de-
pleted.
Almost as interesting are the gulls,
which, from long companionship with
the fishermen of Avalon, have become so
| tame that certain ones can be touched by
the men. The principal fishing is done at
night, nets being hauled at this time,
and in the morning when the fish are
cleaned the gulls gather and fight for the
food. Numbers follow the steamer
from San Pedro to Avalon and back,
about fifty miles, daily, taking food that
is tossed to them in the air. In some
places they are so tame that they have
been known to take food from the hand
from passenger" on the vessels.
These islands abound in small fox, a
beautiful little creature with long, bushy
tail, an animal which, according to the
local story tellers, forms the basis of an
atrocious joke upon some unknown and
nameless naturalist or collector. The
story Is that collector once landed at
Santa Rosa, and wishing to secure a
number of fox tails, trapped the little
animals cut off their tails and released
them. He did this so thoroughly that
finally he had captured nearly every fox
in the vicinity. A year after, SO goes the
story, young naturlist arrived on the
island. He soon caught a fox, but a
fox without a tail. At first he thought
it freak, but when he had taken an
other and another, and found that all
the foxes he saw were tailless, he came
to the conclusion that he had discov-
cred a new animal-a tailless fox-and
so announced it to the world. There are
ground squirrels on the island, three or
four kinds of snakes and several kinds
| of mice.
CAVES ALONG THE COAST
Among the physical features the
caves are most attractive. Santa Rosa
possesses one which reaches directly
into the rocky coast for an estimated
distance of an eighth of mile. The
entrance is q large chamber, highly
arched, which leads to another, a little
smaller, and so on, until the end is
reached In the cave the color of the
water is the richest blue, while the bot
tom scintillates and CLEANS with irides.
In this cave seals and sea lions congre-
gate. their barking reverberating from