THE PIGEON GUILLEMOT. 



927 



feet from the camera, and at the bcjttom uf a fissure toi:i narrow to admit the 

 arm. Fallen masses <if rock, if above the reach (if high tide, are sure to 

 shelter nesting birds between the inequalities of their support. In one in- 

 stance, at least, an abandoned burrow of the Tufted Puffin was used. This 

 burrow differed materially from the custcimar_\- tunnel of the upper Sound 

 region, in that it was driven obliquely downwaril in a sloping grassy hillside. 

 Another rocky islet, "Bird Rock," in Rosario Strait, presented so few crevices 

 that the Guillemots were impelled to resort to certain cmistrictetl patches of 

 rank grass. Here they forced their wa_\' between the gmwiug stems until 



Taken )icar Port U'illinvts. 



Photo bv the Ajtthor. 



A TYPICAL NESTING BLUFF. 



they achieved cunningly o\'er-arched passage-wa_\-s some three feet in length, 

 at the end of which thev were content to lav their egos. 



In excavating a tunnel in a clay bank the bird uses beak and claws, and is 

 forced at the outset to maintain herself in midair, — a task which, by reason 

 of her shortened wings, she accomplishes with no little e.xertion and iniinitely 

 less grace than that, say, displayed by a Bank Swallow. Not infrequently, the 

 bird encounters a boulder a few inches in, and then the task is all to do over 

 again. If, however, excavation has progressed sufficiently the tunnel is con- 

 tinued at right angles. These tunnels are driven at any height which pleases 

 the Pigeon's fancy, and most of them are accessible onlv bv rope, altho Mr. 



