134 THE FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



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 September, 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 rapid 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; " Tawpokkie." 



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 only ones from which I could get eggs, are more easy of 

 access. The young tawporkie, six 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 30 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 BrCshkie." 



This quaintly-beaked bird is quite common on the Pribylov group, and can be obtained at St. George in large 

 numbers. It comes to the islands early in May, 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 the pairing season, its only note being a low, sonorous, vibrating whistle. Like Simorhynchus cristatellus, it 

 will breed in company with the "choochkie", but will not follow that lively relative back upon the uplands, for 

 '' ^ the "baillie brushkie" is always found on the shore line, and there only. Th e egg , which is laid upon the bare 

 earth or rock, is pure white, oblong-ovate, measuring 1J by 2i inches. To obtain it is exceedingly difficult, owing 

 to the bird's great caution in hiding and care in selecting some deep winding crevice in the face of a cliff. At 

 the entrance to this nesting cavern, the parents will sometimes squat down and sit silently for hours at a time, 

 if undisturbed. It does not fly about the islands in flocks, and seems to lead an unassuming, independent life by 

 itself, caring nothing for the society of its kind. The young, when first hatched, I have not seen, but by the 10th 

 or 15th of August they may be coming out for the first time from their secure retreats, and taking to wing as fully 

 fledged as their parents. They leave the islands from the 20th of August to the 1st of September, and go out upon 

 the North Pacific for the winter, where they find their food, which consists of amphipoda and fish-fry. I have never 

 seen one among the thousands that were around me on the islands, opening bivalve-shells, such as mussels, as 

 stated by a German author. It feeds at sea, flying out every morning and returning in the afternoon to its nest 

 and mate. As in the case of the puffins nothing else th;m dynamite, or similar agency, could open the basaltic 

 crevices in which the bird hides ; and, of course, resort to this action would also destroy the egg; therefore, I was 

 not able to gather much more than a baker's dozen of their eggs, though I could see at any time a thousand of 

 the birds. 



37. Simorhyuchus cristatellus. Crested Auk; "Canooskie." 



This fantastic bird, the plumed knight of the Pribylov islands, is conspicuous by reason of its curling crest and 

 bright crimson bill. It makes its appearance iu early May, and repairs to chinks and holes in the rocky cliffs, or 

 deep down below a huge bowlder and rough basaltic shingle, to deposit its egg upon the bare earth or rock, making no 

 nest whatever; and, like the "brushkie", so well do these birds succeed in secreting their charge, that although I 

 was constantly upon the ground where several thousand pairs were laying, I was unable successfully to overturn the 

 rocks under which they hide, and get more than four perfect eggs, the sum total of many hundred attempts. The 

 note of the " canooskie", while mating, is a loud, clanging, honl-Yike sound ; at all other seasons they are as silent as 

 the grave. The crested auk lays but one egg, and the parents take turns, I am inclined to believe, in the labor of 

 hatching and iu that of feeding their young. The egg is rough, pure white, but with frequent discolorations, and, 

 compared with the size and weight of the bird, is disproportionately large. It is an elongated oblong-oval, the 

 smaller end being quite pointed. Length, 2.10; width, 1.40. I have not seen a chick, nor could I get any notes 

 upon its appearance from the natives, but I have shot the young as they came out for the first time from their dark, 

 secure, hidiug places, full fledged, with the exception of their distinctive crest, being by this time, the 10th to 15th 

 of August, as large as the old birds, and of the same color and feathering. The " canooskie", like its cousin, the 

 " choochkie", lyjs^no sexual variation in size or plumage ; males and females, to all external view, are precisely alike. 

 The bright crimson bill varies, however, considerably in color, and iu its strength and curve, the slenderer bill being 

 confined, as far as I could see, to the young birds ; some old ones had very pointed beaks also. 

 30. Simorhynchus pusillus. Least, or Knob-billed Auk ; " Choochkie." 



I take pleasure in writing the biography of this Little bird, which is the most characteristic aud the most 



