194 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 61, FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



as we approached the harbor of Unalaska, and was met with at 

 Atka, Agattu, and Attu, though in small numbers." 



It also nests in the Pribilofs. 



Stejneger (1885) reported it to be a common nester in the 

 Commander Islands, though not numerous, and said that they 

 arrive there about the end of April. Turner intimated that they 

 do not winter in the Near Islands. 



The parakeet auklets nest among large boulders on the beach 

 and in crevices in rocky cliffs, also on slopes where the rocks are 

 partly covered with vegetation. This bird has been considered 

 quite solitary in habits, and although this is true for the most 

 part, they occasionally occur in flocks of moderate size. They 

 often gather in flocks on the water just out from the beach, where 

 they sit and chatter in chorus; then they may suddenly disap- 

 pear from the shoreline and if one were to inspect the beach at 

 such time it would seem that there were no auklets in the vicinity. 



We concluded that the parakeet auklet does not consistently fly 

 far out to sea to feed, as is common with other species of auklets. 

 Its principal food seems to consist of small crustaceans. 



In his notes for 1938, Scheffer reports that, on August 12, at 

 Ogliuga Island, the stomach of a 2-foot cod contained the entire 

 body of a parakeet auklet. 



Aethia cristatella: Crested Auklet 



Attu: Ku-noo-yuch 



Atka: Ku-no6-yuh 



Commander Islands: Konjuga (Stejneger) 



Pribilofs: Canooskie, "Little Captain" (Preble) 



Eastern Aleutians: "Sea quail" 



Apparently, Kodiak Island is the eastern limit of the nesting 

 range of the crested auklet. We saw none east of there. Fried- 

 mann (1935) lists a number of specimens from Kodiak, and 

 Laing observed them there in March (1925). Though the birds 

 occur along the Alaska Peninsula, we did not discover nesting 

 colonies there and did not see them in numbers until we reached 

 Unimak Island. There, especially about Ikatan Peninsula, we 

 saw them in characteristic flocks. Dense masses of them would 

 fly over the water, and drop into it, in unison, with a splash, ap- 

 parently disappearing from sight momentarily, but then appear- 

 ing suddenly like a dark carpet undulating with the swells. We 

 saw some of these birds opposite Urilia Bay, on the north side 

 of Unimak Island, but we did not learn where these Unimak 

 birds nest. We were told that they do not nest on the Sanak 

 Island group. 



