Patrolling the Beach. 



rhinoceros auklet. It is one of those 

 strange, low forms of sea bird which 

 recalls the life of some earlier geologi- 

 cal epoch. During the mating season 

 a knob or horn-like protuberance adorns 

 the base of the upper mandible, but, 

 like the antlers of a deer, it is shed in 

 the autumn time, to be renewed the 

 following spring. The back is plain 

 bluish black, and the under parts are 

 grayish and white. Two narrow tufts 

 of white feathers vary the sides of the 

 head, one extending in a line back of 

 the eye, and the other back from the 

 corner of the mouth. A bird of this 

 species, which I found about the middle 

 of March, had a dark yellow bill with a 

 narrow line of black on the ridge of the 

 upper mandible. The feet were pale 

 blue in color with webs and toe-nails of 

 black. There is an odor of musk 

 about this species similar to that of the 

 fulmars and petrels. 



Cassin's auklet, a demure little crea- 

 ture in black and gray, inhabiting the 

 60 



