372 MORMON ARCTICUS. 



or a stranger immediately alighted by its side, swam round 

 it, pushed it with its bill as if to urge it to fly or dive, and 

 seldom would leave it until an oar Avas raised to knock it on 

 the head, when at last, aware of the danger, it would plunge 

 below in an instant. Those Mhich fell wounded imme- 

 diately ran with speed to some hole, and dived into it, on 

 which no further effort was made to secure them. Those 

 which happened to be caught alive in the hand bit most 

 severely, and scratched with their claws at such a rate that 

 we Avere glad to let them escape. The burrows here com- 

 municated in various ways with each other, so that the 

 W'hole island was perforated as if by a multitude of subter- 

 ranean labyrinths, over which one could not run Avithout 

 the risk of falling at every step. The voices of the young 

 sounded beneath our feet like \ oices from the grave, and the 

 stench Avas extremely disagreeable ; so that as soon as our 

 boats Avere filled with birds we were glad to get away. 

 During the Avhole of our visit the birds never left the place, 

 but constantly attended to their avocations. Here one Avould 

 rise beneath our feet, there, within a feAv yards of us, another 

 Avould alight with a fish, and dive into its burroAV, or feed the 

 young that stood waiting at the entrance. The young birds 

 Avere far from being friendly tOAvards each other, and those 

 which we carried with us kept continually fighting so long 

 as Ave kept them alive. They used their yet extremely small 

 bills with great courage and pertinacity, and their cries 

 resembled the wailings of young whelps. The smaller indi- 

 viduals Avere fed by the pai^ents by regurgitation, or received 

 little pieces of fish Avhicli Avere placed in their mouth ; the 

 larger picked up the pieces of fish that were dropped before 

 them ; but almost all of them seemed to craAvl to the entrance 

 of the holes for the purpose of being fed. In all the burroAvs 

 that communicated with others, a round place was scooped out 

 on one side of the avenue, in the form of an oven, Avhile in 

 those Avhich Avere single, this oven-like place Avas found at 

 the end, and Avas larger than the corridor. All the passages 

 Avere flattish above, and rounded beneath, as Avell as on the 

 sides. In many instances Ave found tAvo birds sitting each on 

 its oAvn e(^Q in the same hole." 



