CALIFORNIA WATER BIRDS. 355 



bird will simply leave its egg and retreat as far as the 

 recess in the rock will allow. When pulled out of their 

 retreats with a wire, they are eager to fight, seizing what- 

 ever is placed within reach of their formidable bills, and 

 holding on to it tenaciously. The lighthouse people and 

 the eggers had much to say of the vicious spirit the ' Sea 

 Parrots ' sometimes display toward one another. Two 

 that were fighting, I was told, rolled down a declivity for 

 more than one hundred feet without relinquishing their 

 bull-dog grip. An encounter is said to end always in the 

 death of one of the combatants. So far as I observed, 

 the ' Sea Parrots ' were peaceable among themselves and 

 toward other birds. That their conflicts are so sanguin- 

 ary perhaps tends to make them infrequent. When sitting 

 about on the rocks they are also quite fearless. A group 

 of five was photographed within less than ten feet of the 

 camera — the birds remaining quiet but watchful specta- 

 tors while the tripod was being adjusted on the uneven 

 rocks. 



Ptychoramphus aleuticus. Cassin's Auklet. — In 

 searching for Petrels among the piles of stone, Cassin's 

 Auklets were brought to light. They offered no great 

 resistance when taken into the hand, and when tossed 

 into the air usually fell helplessly to the ground, apparently 

 too dazed to fly. Both eggs and young birds were found — 

 the former chiefly in an advanced stage of incubation. 

 Some of the young, partially fledged, were nearly as large 

 as adults. In one instance an Auklet was discovered 

 sharing its apartment with two rabbits. 



The afternoon of the 13th was warm and cloudless, 

 and just after sundown several large flocks of these 

 Auklets were seen flying about high in air over the island, 

 recalling to mind Chimney Swifts on a summer's day in 

 the East. At two o'clock the following morning I was 



