196 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 61, FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



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Figure 36. — Crested auklets. 



C. H. Townsend has characterized the food situation for the 

 auklets very well when he said (1913) : 



We found that a considerable part [of the food] of this [crested] and other 

 kinds of auklets consisted of amphipod crustaceans or "beach fleas," as 

 they are called, when found under bits of seaweed along shore. These 

 small crustaceans, less than a quarter of an inch in length, are amazingly 

 abundant in Alaskan waters and, as a never-failing food supply, account 

 for the surprising abundance of auklets of all kinds. 



G. Dallas Hanna reported that in the vicinity of the Pribilofs 

 he found crested auklets in two cod stomachs. One of the stom- 

 achs contained 1 bird and the other stomach contained 2 of these 

 birds. Cod are bottom feeders, therefore he points out that the 

 birds must have descended 30 fathoms — the depth at which these 

 two cod were caught (Preble and McAtee 1923) . 



