Bill Arvey Journal 1965 Sept 8 at first I mistook them for loons, but they didn't really look like loons. While we pumped gas and water into another vessel two land birds, one a nondescript type of thrush, grouse, or vireo, flew round and round the ship looking for a place to land. It lit momentarily on some hangers, but cannot decide what it is. Another, a sparrow possibly while crowed did likewise but was so exhausted that it even plopped down amidst some moving men below. It then scrambled off again. We put ashore at the Farallones in a landing boat and were hoisted up in a crane from this. Then I set out to see what is here. The whole island is just a big rock pile of granite, which has decomposed in some places to form a thin soil, which along with its grime has been used by rabbits and mice as burrows. The whole place has the aspect of a breeding ground. The ground and rocks are white washed, and feathers are everywhere, as well as the flies which gather over everything. The lighthouse is on the main rock, its highest point on the island. The most prominent feature of its avifauna are the ever-present Western Gulls, in all plumages. Many are seen dead, laying about in all stages of decomposition. The next major aspect is the cormorant population. All of rocks, all of water overlooks have their black bodies huddled on them.