2 74 Bexdire, No/es on tjfc Ancient Miir relet. Iua" 



small to accommodate their natural increase, but such is by no 

 means the case. The native Aleuts know, almost to a clay, when 

 the first ones will arrive, and are there to meet them, invading the 

 island armed with stout clubs, and every bird, Auklet or Murrelet, 

 that is overtaken is promptly clubbed to death and thrown into a 

 sack carried for this purpose. At each of these raids hundreds 

 of these birds are killed, and as they are made frequently and 

 throughout the entire season, it is astonishing that any remain. 

 But this is not all ; as soon as day dawns, the entire crew sets out 

 to make a systematic search for eggs, which are well flavored and 

 good eating, each one striving to get more than his mates ; and as 

 it makes no difference to a native whether they are fresh or on 

 the point of hatching, everything goes. Fortunately it is impos- 

 sible to find all the nests, or kill all the birds, so enough remain 

 to stock the island again another season. 



" By no means every island in this vicinity is occupied by Mur- 

 relets. Within 400 yards of the one of which I write is another of 

 about the same size and topography, but strange to say, no Mur- 

 relets are found on it, although there are two or three small col- 

 onies of Auklets, the remainder of the island being given over to 

 Leach's Petrels. Again on two other small islands, also near 

 together, each containing about a couple of acres, and in every 

 way alike, one is given over entirely to Auklets, while on the 

 other the Murrelets have almost complete control. These facts 

 cause me to believe that the birds always return to the island on 

 which they have been reared. 



" On June 23 our party returned to the island on which we first 

 landed, and found to our great satisfaction that the Murrelets' eggs 

 were more plentiful than on our former visit, and a few of them 

 were taken. We also soon discovered that they were not especially 

 particular in the selection of a nesting site. An abandoned bur- 

 row of Cassin's x\uklet, a dark crevice in cliffs, under large broken 

 rocks which had fallen from the latter, or under large tussocks 

 of rank grass, with which the higher portion of the island was 

 covered, would answer equally well. Under these almost solid 

 bunches (the grass remaining from several previous years), the 

 Murrelets would force their way, leaving only a slight hole in the 

 mass, which usually was very hard to detect. After once gaining 



