AUKS, AlURRES, AND PUFFINS 17 



The wings are short, but they are used with great efficiency when the birds swim under 

 water. In their sitting posture on hind the birds' feet extend horizontally in front, and they 

 appear to be resting on their rumps. On the sea they are in their element, and here they 

 get all of their food, which includes fish, taken chiefly by pursuit under water, and other 

 animal forms. Because of this life their plumage is remarkably thick and dense, and is 

 much used by the Eskimos in making clothing. 



In distribution the Auks are very unequally divided between the two northern oceans, 

 the Atlantic having few forms in comparison with the Pacific. The largest number of species 

 and the most diversified forms are found on the northern coasts of the Pacific, though the 

 aggregate of individuals of any species found there does not, according to Dr. Coues, exceed 

 that of several Atlantic Ocean species. The same authority says that a " more or less com- 

 plete migration takes place with most species, which stray southward, sometimes to a con- 

 siderable distance, in the autumn and return again to breed in the spring. A few species 

 appear nearly stationary." Many of the migrating Auks pass the winter on the open sea 

 or on drifting ice. 



At the approach of spring weather, the birds return to their northern breeding 

 grounds where they gather in immense numbers on rocky cliffs along the coast. No nest is 

 built, but the single egg, which is laid in niches or on ledges, is covered constantly by one or 

 the other of the parents. The color of the egg varies greatly with the different species. The 

 young are helpless when they are hatched, and it is not known with certainty what methods 

 are employed by the parents to get them to the water. It seems not unlikely that the chicks 

 are sometimes carried to the sea by the adults, though doubtless many of them reach the 

 water by scrambling and falling down the cliffs. These Auk colonies are frequently raided 

 by foxes, weasels, and other predacious animals and birds, not to mention the Indians and 

 Eskimos who depend largely upon the birds and their eggs for winter food. 



TUFTED PUFFIN 

 Lunda cirrhata { Pallas) 



A. O. U. Number 12 



Other Name. — Sea Parrot. uily-green : rosette of moutli, yellow ; iris, white. .-Xdllts 



General Description. — Length. 15 inches. Color IM Winter: No crests or white on face; bill, mostly 



above, black; below, brown; bill, hif/h, much com- dusky with some touches of reddish ; feet, pale salmon ; 



pressed, ridged on sides; a fold of naked skin at iris, pale blue; otherwise like summer birds, 



corner of mouth. Nest and Eggs. — The single egg is laid on the bare 



Description. — Adults in Summer : A tuft of straw- ground at the end of a burrow or in natural cavities 



yellow feathers on each side of head about 4 inches among rocks, sometimes within sight, sometimes as 



long, completely surrounding eyes and continuous with much as five feet from the entrance ; it is dead-white, 



white of face, forehead, and chin (narrowly) ; crown showing obscure shell markings of pale lavender or 



between the crests and entire upper parts, except a brownish. 



line on wing along fore-arm (which is white), glossy Distribution. — Coasts and island; of the Arctic 



blue-black: entire under parts from chin, including Ocean, Bering Sea, and North Pacific, from Cape 



most of sides of head, sooty-brownish, more grayish on Lisburne, .Maska, south to Santa Barbara Islands, 



abdomen; under tail-coverts, wings, and tail, black; California, and from Bering Sea to Japan; accidental 



bill, feet, and eye-ring, vermilion; base of bill, pale in IMaine and Greenland. 



The islands of the north Pacific, scattered pear like fleets of ships. .Sound is magnified 



along the shores of British Columbia, form, with until the explosion of a gun and its echoes roar 



their surrounding waters and the verdant coast along the shores, a carnival of sound. Swift 



line, a veritable .summer wonderland. Here the tides boil through narrow, rocky passes, while the 



mirage makes birds sitting upon the water ap- shimmering heat of summer gives a touch of 



