THE CRESTED AUKLET 
BY CHARLES HASKINS TOWNSEND 
This is a sea-bird of the far North, frequenting the coasts and 
islands of Bering Sea and the North Pacific Ocean. We first got 
acquainted with the crested auklets at the Pribilof Islands, where 
they abound, and afterward saw them in Bering Strait, and above the 
Arctic Circle at Kotzebue Sound. Later, in the fishery surveys by 
the steamship Albatross, we saw them from Kadiak Island and the 
Alaska Peninsula through the whole Aleutian Archipelago, and be¬ 
yond it to the Commander Islands, off Kamchatka. 
The bird is also found along the Kuril Islands, down as far as 
Japan on the western side of the Pacific. Rich as our experiences 
with the auklets were in many of these places, they did not prepare 
us for what we were to see in the Shumagin Islands, south of the 
Alaska Peninsula. 
On the evening of x\ugust i, the Albatross came to anchor in 
Yukon Harbor, at Big Koniuji Islands, of the Shumagin group. While 
the ship was working her way into this wild and uninhabited bay 
everyone noticed the increasing numbers of crested auklets. The far¬ 
ther in we went the more numerous they became, until the captain 
called me to the bridge to tell him what I could about them. 
The birds were nearly all of the crested species, and were present 
in myriads. The surface of the water was covered with them, and the 
air was filled with them. Large, compact flocks launched themselves 
into the air from the lofty cliffs, and careened toward the vessel with 
great speed and whirring of wings. The crested auklets were here 
more numerous than were the choochkies (least auklets) at St. 
George, in the Pribilofs, celebrated as the center of abundance for that 
species. 
Twilight did not come until after nine o’clock, and during the long 
evening the birds were amazingly active. Flocks of them continued 
to come in rapid succession from the cliffs, many passing close to the 
ship at high speed and swinging about the harbor. After the anchor 
was dropped near the cliffs, a loud blast of the whistle made the auklets 
still more abundant. The bird-legions came from the cliffs until the 
misty air and water about the ship was alive with them. 
These birds appeared to be nesting chiefly in crevices in the cliffs, 
although they could be heard under the boulders near the beaches. We 
did not stay long at Yukon Harbor, and I have always wanted to re- 
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