LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN DIVING BIRDS. 119 



higher elevation above the water than the other species. It travels 

 long distances in search of food. It swims buoyantly and rapidly 

 and it is a very good diver. 



I have no recollection of ever having heard the paroquet auklet 

 utter a sound; it impressed me as being a particularly silent bird. 

 Mr. Nelson (1887) noted that it has "a low, sonorous, vibrating 

 whistle," and Doctor Stejneger (1885) says that its "voice is a clear, 

 vibrating whistle, somewhat resembling that of Cepphus grylle and 

 columiba!''' 



'Winter. — By the middle or the last of August most of the young 

 are on the wing and are beginning to leave the islands, from which 

 they have practically all disappeared by the 1st of September. They 

 gradually move out to sea and probably spend the winter on the open 

 ocean. They must winter considerably farther south than the other 

 auklets, for while the others have frequently been taken in winter 

 near the Aleutian and Commander Islands, there are no winter 

 records for the paroquet auklet in these regions. Doctor Stejneger 

 (1885) says that he was not able to obtain a single specimen, even 

 during the latter part of the summer, in the Commanders; that it 

 was never " seen or heard of " during the winter, " nor was it ever 

 during that season picked up dead on the beach after heavy gales." 

 On the Asiatic side it wanders as far south as the Kurile Islands. 

 Mr. Rollo H. Beck (1910) has taken a number of specimens in Janu- 

 ary otf Monterey, California ; they were several miles offshore, where 

 they are probably more common than is generally supposed. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Breeding range. — Coasts and islands of Bering Sea. From 

 Kodiak Island, the Aleutian Islands, Commander Islands, probably 

 the Kurile Islands, and perhaps Kamtschatka northward to Bering 

 Strait (Diomede Islands). Birds seen in July and August in 

 southeastern Alaska were probably nonbreeding individuals or early 

 migrants. 



Winter range. — Southward on the North Pacific, rarely taken 

 ashore, and southern limit unknown. Recorded in winter from Ore- 

 gon (Netarts Bay), and California (San Francisco Bay, Monterey 

 Bay, off Point Pinos and Eureka, Humboldt County). On the 

 Asiatic coast south to Kurile Islands. 



Spring migration. — Birds arrive at the Commander Islands late in 

 April and at the Pribilof Islands from April 30 to early May. 

 Migrants were seen at Forrester Island May 4. One was shot at 

 Nushagak May 22. One taken at Sitka June 8 may have been a late 

 migrant. 



Fall migration. — Birds have been seen in Prince William Sound 

 July 18 and August 27. The species leaves its nesting grounds in 



