24 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 56 



FRATERCULA CORNICULATA 



Horned Puffin 



A few pairs were seen breeding on the rocky cliffs at St. Paul 

 Island and they were common at St. Matthew Island on the high 

 cliffs among the Fulmars. No nests of this species were examined. 



PHALERIS PSITTACULA 



Paroquet Auklet 



We first saw this large White Breasted Auklet when we approached 

 the shores of St. Paul Island in a dense fog, the direction in which 

 this and other birds were flying helping to locate it. They were nest- 

 ing in inaccessible crevices in the low rocky cliffs about this island 

 where we saw them sitting in little groups on the rocks or flying 

 out to circle around us. On Walrus Island we found them 

 breeding abundantly, on June 7, where their nests were well hidden 

 under the piles of loose rocks on the beach-like center of the island, 

 in company with the Tufted Pufiins, Crested and Least Auklets. 

 The rocks were mostly small so that we did not have much difficultv 

 in moving enough of them to discover the bright white eyes and 

 curious upturned red bills of these Auklets as they sat quietly on 

 their single eggs. The eggs were laid on the bare rocks or soil or 

 on a bed of loose pebbles. They were silent and very gentle as they 

 sat quietly on their nests, quite diff'erent in this respect from the 

 other Auklets. On St. Matthew Island we saw a few Paroquet 

 Auklets, apparently breeding, about the tops of the high rocky cliffs, 

 two hundred feet above the sea. 



^THIA CRISTATELLA 



Crested Auklet 

 This species was not so abundant as the foregoing, but was breed- 

 ing commonly on Walrus Island. While hunting for nests among 

 the loose rocks we frequently heard the loud weird cries of this 

 strange bird coming from the innermost recesses of the rocks below 

 us. By moving the rocks we could sometimes see them sitting on 

 their nests. The eggs are similar to those of the Paroquet Auklet, 

 but usually a little smaller and more pointed. 



.^THIA PUSILLA 



Least Auklet 

 Great clouds of these little birds greeted us on our arrival at St. 

 Paul Island, where they rose from the stony beaches in swarms, 

 and were probably breeding among the loose rocks. Their faint 



