The four have a diameter of one hundred and sixty, one hundred and eighty-five, one hundred and twenty-five, and thirty-five yards respectively, and the most northern of the islets bears north 64 deg.
west from the Farallon light, six and three-fifths miles distant.
All the islands are frequented by birds; but the largest, the South Farallon, on which the light-house stands, is the favorite resort of these creatures, who come here in astonishing numbers every summer to breed; and it is to this island that the eggers resort at that season to obtain supplies of sea-birds' eggs for the San Francisco market, where they have a regular and large sale.
The birds which breed upon the Farallones are gulls, murres, shags, and sea-parrots, the last a kind of penguin.

The eggs of the shags and parrots are not used, but the eggers destroy them to make more room for the other birds.

The gull begins to lay about the middle of May, and usually ten days before the murre.

The gull makes a rude nest of brush and sea-weed upon the rocks; the murre does not take even this much trouble, but lays its eggs in any convenient place on the bare rocks.
[Illustration: THE GULL'S NEST.] The gull is soon through, but the murre continues to lay for about two months.

The egging season lasts, therefore, from the 10th or 20th of May until the last of July.