430 Ray, Fortnight on the Farallones. Vo"^ 



cast, is laid in burrows in the guano from one to four feet in 

 depth, or at Uke distances in nooks and crannies of the rocks and 

 cliffs, with rarely any lining, and at all elevations above the sea. 

 The eggs, like those of the preceding species, become much soiled 

 by their surroundings. On our arrival fresh or nearly fresh eggs 

 were the rule and young the exception, while on our departure it 

 was the reverse. 



According to my experience this species, when robbed, does 

 not lay again. When pulled off the nest a sticky reddish substance 

 exudes from the bill of the parent, which is no doubt semi-digested 

 food for the young. When released the auklet would frequently 

 run back to the nest while others would fly rapidly out to sea. The 

 young are covered with black down. During the latter part of our 

 stay I found many of the larger young birds alone in the burrows, 

 both parents being away, evidently foraging. 



When the islands are wrapped in the darkness of night, the 

 lofty pinnacles of the ridge rise like towers above a battlement, 

 and from their highest point the strong light from the light tower 

 streams across the sky and far out to sea. And now, when all 

 the other birds have retired to roost and the great rookeries are 

 silent, in from the sea and out from their burrows the auklets 

 come by thousands, and with the petrels begin their nightly labor. 

 By the light of a lantern the air and ground seem black with swift 

 moving figures, and their strange yet not unmusical cries mingle 

 into a mighty chorus which, coming out from the darkness, has a 

 weird effect. 



3. Cepphus columba. Pigeon Guillemot. 



The guillemot is a trim little bird, resembling a pigeon in size, 

 form and plumage, but it lacks the latter's grace on land, moving 

 over the rocks in a clumsy, flat-footed fashion. These birds 

 became more abundant every day during our stay, but they did 

 not begin to lay until the end of the first week in June. We found 

 well incubated single eggs as well as pairs ; hence incubation 

 must really have begun although the majority of all the eggs we 

 found were fresh. The nests, merely pebble-lined slight hollows, 

 were located under projecting ledges, boulders, or in spaces 



