222 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



and it stared back at me in stolid wonder as I laughed. Of all birds 

 in these latitudes, it seems to have been fashioned with a special 

 regard to the fantastic and ludicrous. This mormon, in common with 

 one other species, 31. cirrhafa, comes up from the sea in the south to 

 the cliffs of the islands about the 10th of May, always in pairs, never 

 coming singly to or going away from the Pribilofs in flocks. It 

 makes a nest of dried sea ferns, grass, and moss, slovenly laid together, 

 far back in some deep or rocky crevice, where, when the egg is laid, it 

 is ninety-nine times out of a hundred cases inaccessible; nothing 

 but blasting powder would open a passage to it for man. It has this 

 peculiarity : it is the only bird on these islands which seems to quarrel 

 forever and ever with its mate. The hollow reverberations of its 

 anger, scolding, and vituperation from the nuptial chamber are the 

 most characteristic sounds, and indeed the only ones that come from 

 the recesses of the rocks. No sympathy need be expended on the 

 female. She is just as big and just as violent as her lord and master. 

 The nest contains but a single egg, large, oblong, oval, pure white; 

 and, contrary to the custom of the gulls, arries, and choochkies, when 

 the egg is removed the sea parrot does not renew it, but deserts the 

 nest, perhaps locating elsewhere. The young chick I have not been 

 able to get until it becomes fledged and ready for flight in August; 

 then it does not differ materially from its parent. Only the absence 

 of the auricular plumes can be noted. The Epatka leaves the island 

 about the 10th of Sei^tember, spending, I believe, the rest of the time 

 at sea. Except when quarreling in the nesting caverns this bird is 

 very quiet and unobtrusive. It does not come in large numbers to 

 the islands, for it breeds everywhere else in Bering Sea and along the 

 northwest coast as far south as Cross Sound. Its flight is performed 

 with quick and rai^id wing beats, in a straight and steady course. 

 There is no difference between the sexes as to shape, size, or plumage. 



35. Fratercula cirrhata. Tufted Puffin; "Tawporkie." 



This bird comes to the island at about the same time as its cousin 

 just preceding, and resembles the "Epatkie" in its habits generally, 

 being quite as conspicuous a domestic scold. It lays a single large 

 white egg of a rounded oval shape. I was not able to see a newly- 

 hatched chick, owing to the retired and inaccessible breeding places, 

 for whenever I could find an egg I seized upon it instantly, not 

 daring to wait for the culmination of hatching. I think that Walrus 

 Islet, if visited frequently during the close of the hatching season, 

 would afford an opportunity to study the young, because the nests, 

 which were the onl,y ones from which I could get eggs, are more easy 

 of access. The young tawporkie 6 weeks old resembles the parents 

 exactly, only the bill is lighter colored and the plumes on the head are 

 incipient. Walrus Islet is the only place where the birds can be daily 

 seen and watched with satisfactory results. I took eggs from over 

 thirty nests in July. The natives say that when it is mating its cries 

 sound like the growling of a bear, as they issue from far down under 

 the rocks which cover its nest. 



36. Phaleris psittacula. Parroquet Auk: " Baillie Brushkie." 



This quaintly-beaked bird is quite common on the Pribilof group, 

 and can be obtained at St. George in large numbers. It comes to the 

 islands early in jMay, mute and silent, locating its nest in a deep 

 chink or crevice of some inaccessible cliff, where it lays a single egg 

 and rears its young. It is very quiet and undemonstrative during 



