20 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



blue, and yellow, and embossed with horny ex- 

 crescences. These growths appear only in the 

 mating season, and are sloughed ofif when that 

 period is at an end, which means, as one observer 

 puts it, that " the Puffin displays his wedding 

 garments on his beak.'' Puffins are not likely to 

 be seen near land after the breeding season is 

 over. They are skillful swimmers and expert 

 divers : in their diving they often descend to a 

 great depth, and they are exceedingly quick and 

 sure in their motions under the surface. At their 

 breeding places the birds are likely to appear 

 with remarkable punctuality, and they disappear 

 with their young with corresponding regularity. 

 In fact this departure is methodical to the extent 

 that young birds which have not got the full use 

 of their wings are left behind when the time for 

 migrating arrives. It seems probable that the 

 birds remain mated for life. 



On land the bird places the whole length of the 

 foot and heel on the ground and proceeds with a 

 waddling stride. Robbing a Puffin's nest is 

 dangerous business when either of the birds is at 

 home, for they fight desperately and can inflict 

 ugly wounds with their powerful mandibles and 

 sharp inner nails. 



The birds show strong affection for one 

 another. If one is shot and falls in the water, 

 others are likely to alight near it, swim around 

 it, push it with their bills, and display in many 

 ways their distress. 



From old records we learn that in various 

 parts of the Puffin's European range it was the 

 custom to salt down large quantities of the young 

 birds, to be eaten especially in Lent. To be sure 

 the bird wasn't actually fish, but it tasted enough 

 like fish to satisfy adaptable consciences among 

 the devout. 



CASSIN'S AUKLET 

 Ptychoramphus aleuticus (Pallas) 



A. O. U. Number 1 6 



Other Name. — Sea Quail. 



General Description. — Length, 9' J inches. Color 

 above, blackish; below, whitish; bill, shorter than head, 

 wider than broad at base, its upper outline nearly 

 straight. 



Color. — L't'pcr parts, blackish-plumbeous: head, 

 wings and tail, nearly black; a grayish shade extending 

 around head, neck, fore-breast, and along sides of body, 

 fading to white on abdomen ; bill, black, yellowish at 



base; feet, bluish in front, blackish behind and on webs; 

 iris, white; a touch of white on lower eyelid. 



Nest and Eggs. — The single egg, chalky-white or 

 faintly tinged with green or blue, unmarked, is de- 

 posited in a burrow in the ground or in a crevice in 

 rocks on an island or coast adjacent to the sea. 



Distribution. — Pacific coast of North America from 

 Aleutian Islands to latitude 27° in Lower California; 

 breeds locally throughout its range. 



While the Cassin Auklet has been found living 

 on some of the rocky islands from the Aleutians 

 to Lower California, yet I have never found one 

 of the birds nesting on the rocks off the Oregon 

 coast. 



During the summer of 1903, Mr. Herman 

 T. Bohlman and I camped for five days and 

 nights on Three Arch Rocks which contain the 

 greatest colonies of sea birds off the ( )regon 

 coast. Again in 1914, we lived for four days 

 and nights on these rocks and climbed from top 

 to bottom studying the various birds that live 

 there. We have yet to see our first Auklet about 

 Three Arch Rocks. This has led me to believe 

 that it is rather uncertain as to just where the 

 bird may be fotmd. Mr. L. M. Loomis found 

 the birds nesting on the Farallons and Mr. Wil- 



liam L. Dawson found them nesting on some of 

 the rocks off the Washington coast. 



Because of its plump shape and size, it has 

 been called a " Sea Quail." In his study of 

 Cassin's Auklet on one of the islands off the 

 Washington coast, Mr. William L. Dawson 

 speaks of spending the night on the slope of the 

 island where the Auklets had their nests. The 

 birds burrow in under the soil, like the Petrels 

 and Puffins, and are largely nocturnal in their 

 nesting habits. The old birds come in at night 

 to change places in the burrows. The Auklet 

 chorus of birds in the burrows, he says, reminds 

 one of a frog pond in full cry. Although the 

 Auklets are quiet in daytime, yet the tumult in- 

 creases as the night progresses. 



William L. Finley. 



