THE MARBLED MURRELET. 921 



mer bo\', tlie trusted flag-rope, beats furious tattoo. Crasli! Poof! Poof: 

 We win ! 



But there are those who enJDX' the cnntlict ni the storm e\en nuire than 

 we. Above the whining of the waters and the crashing of the prow. come shrill 

 exultant cries. Mccr-mccr- inccr-mccr. The IMurrelets are in their element, 

 and the\- shriek tC) each other across the dancing waters like Tritons at play. 

 Perhaps association will parth- account for it. but somehow the note nf the 

 jMarbled ]\lurrelet seems of itself to suggest piping gales and ruggetl cliffs 

 beset bv pounding surf. It is the articulate cr}- (if the sea in a niNal mood. 

 And not a thousand Alurrelet \'oices are required ti> tr;inspiirt tlie hearer to 

 Alaska forthwith. 



Sa\e in summer, the Alurrelets appear chiefly in pairs and it is interestint; 

 to note the harnKui}' of action in the case of mated birds. They sit upnn tlie 

 water, usuall_\" abreast, from one to four feet a])art, and in flight they main- 

 tain the same relation. In rising from the water the\' do not jiatter, after 

 the fashion of the (irebe, hni burst out In- a sudden eft'ort. The\- do not, 

 howe\-er, alwa^'s succeed in getting quickh" under way, for thev sometimes 

 bump along o\-er the surface like a skipjiing stone, and are e\-en quite baffled 

 if the\- are called upon to clear an unusualK' high wa\e. Once a-wing, bow- 

 e\'er, the\- \ibrate the pinions with e.xtreme rai:i(lit\- and appear to move like 

 winged Ijullets. 



Because so agile they are often quite \enturesome, and the ])ursuit of fish 

 is sometimes carried on before a wdiarf-load of beholders, .\bout the docks 

 of the I'remerton Xa\'}'-_\'ard these Iiirds are es]jeciall\' fearless. Tlie\- look 

 like little men-of-war themsel\-es as they lie at anchor on the surface id' the 

 water; but when they get news from lielmv b\' wireless, the}- are cjff" like a 

 flash, down, down into the cool green depths. The}' di 1 not swim under water, 

 but fly rather. At first one ma_\- see the wing-strokes, incisive, rapid : then 

 onl)- the quickly disappearing white of the bird's nether parts is \-isible; and 

 lastlv, a slowh- rising line of bubliks which mark the fir.st dozen feet or so of 

 the di\'er's course, ^\dlen surprised at close quarters b\- a steamsjii]), the bird 

 oftener escapes b\" di\'ing than by llight, and so confident is he of his jmwers 

 in this regard that he tarries to c|uencli the last possible moment of curiosity 

 before going below. 



The nesting of the Marbled Murrelet hereabouts is an engaging myster}'. 

 While not nearly so numerous in summer as at other seasons, the little divers 

 may be found thruout the length and breadth of Puget Sound at that season, 

 and the\- occur in numbers along the Pacific Coast. Word comes from the 

 Aleutians that they nest in holes and cre\'ices along with .Vncient Alurrelets 

 ( SynthUbovaiiipJuis aiitiqiius) , and there is no reason to disbelie\-e the report 

 from that section, but we have found nothing of the kind here. The Ouileute 

 Indians say that they do not nest like the other sea-fow 1 upon the rocky islets, 



