20 PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA No. 12 



but what he found were probably the holes of the puffins ; he saw an Auklet 

 fly ashore with a fish in its mouth, and plunge into a hole. Of course these birds 

 may have nested on Santa Barbara many years ago, and since become extirpated. 

 I am inclined to think that Heermann must have been mistaken as to the identity 

 of his bird, it having been ''towards night", but anyway, there is small likeli- 

 hood of the species having nested on any of this group of islands for a gre?t 

 many years. 



C. B. Linton and G. Willett (7) took specimens during November and De- 

 cember at Santa Cruz Island, and found that they were not particularly shy. The 

 crops of those shot contained sardines three or four inches long. There is in the 

 British Museum (2) an adult taken in spring at San Miguel. 



These birds are deep water fishermen and are to be found near the islands 

 only where the ocean bottom drops abruptly. When resting they present a very 

 clmnky appearance, and, like most of their near relatives, they prefer to escape a 

 pursuer by diving rather than by flying. They arrive in October and leave the 

 first part of May, as A. van Rossem and I found them not uncommon at Santa 

 Cruz Island up to May 2, 1911. Some of them, at least, acquire their nuptial 

 plumage before this time. 



10. Ptychoramphus aleuticus (Pallas) 



Cassin Auklet 



Ptychoramphus aleiiticus (J) Cooper, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., iv, 1870, p. 79. (3) Baird. 

 Brewer and Ridgway, Water Birds N. Am., ii, 1884, p. 519. (3) Streator, Orn. & Ool., 

 XIII, 1888, p. 54. (4) Townsend, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xiii, 1890, p. 140. (5) Ste- 

 phens, Ault, X, 1893, p. 298. (0') Grinnell, Pasadena Acad. Sci., i, 1897, p. 22. (7) 

 Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxvi, 1898, p. 600. (S) Grinnell, Pac. Coast 

 Avif., 3, 1902, p. 10. (9) Grinnell & Daggett, Auk, xx, 1903, pp. 30, 37. (10) Rob- 

 ertson, Condor, v, 1903, p. 96. (11) Breninger, Auk, xxi, 1904, p. 222. (12) Reed, 

 N. Am. Birds' Eggs, 1904, p. 14. (13) Mearns, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., lvi, 1907, p. 141. 

 UJf) Linton, Condor, x, 1908, p. 82. (15) Linton, Condor, x, 1908, p. 125. (16) 

 Wright, Condor, xi, 1909, p. 98. (11) Osburn, Condor, xi, 1909, p. 135. (18) Willett, 

 Condor, xii, 1910, p. 172. (19) Willett, Pac. Coast Avif., 7, 1912, p. 11. (20) Wright 

 and Snyder, Condor, xv, 1913, pp. 86, 88. (21) Grinnell, Pac. Coast Avif., 11, 1915, 

 p. 18. 



Ptychorampus aleiiticus (22) Grinnell, Pasadena Acad. Sci., ii, 1898, p. 6. 



Cassin Auklet (23) Beck, Bull. Cooper Orn. Club, i, 1899, p. 85. (2/,) Anthony, Bull. 

 Cooper Orn. Club, i, 1899, p. 102. (25) Will6tt, Condor, xii, 1910, p. 171. 



A most abundant resident, breeding in all suitable localities that are free 

 from cats and foxes. On the northernmost of the Coronados group there is a 

 very large colony of these birds, but they occur on none of the other three. Com- 

 mon in the vicinity of San Clemente and Catalina during the winter months, but 

 not recorded from either place in summer or spring. 



In May, 1863, Cooper (2) found these birds numerous on Santa Barbara, 

 where they had undermined almost every part of the soft, earthy surface with 

 their burrows. In May, 1897, J. Grinnell (8, 22) recorded it as breeding in large 

 numbers in the same locality. Since that time, cats have been introduced, and 



