FAUNA OF THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS AND ALASKA PENINSULA 203 



Perhaps one of the largest horned puffin colonies that I ob- 

 served in 1925 was on Amagat Island, near the mouth of Mor- 

 zhovoi Bay. I estimated that the colony contained 15,000 birds. 



The horned puffin is less abundant than the tufted puffin, in 

 whose company it generally nests. The fact that it has a differ- 

 ent nesting habit may account for its smaller numbers, for its 

 particular nesting habitat may be less available than that of the 

 tufted puffin. While the latter burrows in the sod, the horned 

 puffin seeks a crevice among large boulders or in a cliff. Its 

 habit of nesting in burrows already has been described, and 

 Bretherton (1896), writing of Kodiak Island, states that it digs 

 its own burrow. This, however, cannot be considered to be a 

 normal procedure, for, as stated above, its distinctive nesting 

 habitat is in rock crevices. 



There were a few places where this species equaled, or ex- 

 ceeded, in numbers the tufted puffin, as at Gareloi and Agattu, 

 and possibly at Davidof and Khwostof. Gabrielson considered 

 them to be more abundant on Chagulak. They were nearly as 

 abundant as the tufted puffin on Little Sitkin Island. 



According to the natives, the horned puffin winters in the 

 Aleutians. 



Figure 39. — Horned puffins. 



