474 Mr. C. de B. Green on the Distrihution and 



one other case was there a lone bird, the male, keeping 

 watch on a tree near by, while, the day being unusually hot, 

 the female was off for exercise nearly two hours, and could 

 sometimes be seen wheeling high in the sky. 



The birds nearly always choose the very top of the cliff 

 under the roots of a spruce-tree growing on the edge — in 

 some cases quite easy of access, sometimes requiring a rope 

 and some help. 



Nothing was found at any of the eyries but remains of 

 Ancient Murrelets, very rarely anything but the heads, very 

 neatly cut off and always fresh ; all other remains were 

 cleared away carefully. 



Langara Island is about twenty miles in circumference, and 

 has a pair of Falcons at a distance of every two miles apart ; 

 the whole island is a warren of Ancient Murrelets, and there 

 are colonies of other sea-fowl at particular points and on 

 adjacent islets, but the Ancient Murrelets predominate, and 

 are killed by hundreds by the Falcons and by thousands 

 by Indians, who visit the island from May to August and 

 destroy the birds and eggs simply for food. Something 

 in the flavour evidently pleases both the Falcons and the 

 Indians, for neither of them seems to make war on the 

 other fowl. 



The eggs of the Ancient Murrelet, two in number, are 

 not hard to dig out, being only about arm^s length under 

 ground, and, strange to say, the Crows go after them under 

 ground far enough to find all they want. The Rhinoceros 

 Auklet {Cerorkinca monocerata), however, is exceedingly 

 hard to dig out, and is almost hopeless without a small dog 

 to direct operations and keep the right track for the nearest 

 nest in the labyrinth of tunnels they make amongst the 

 spruce-roots. 



The Marbled Murrelets {Brachyramphus marmoratus) do 

 not pack like the Ancient Murrelets, but can be seen in 

 pairs scattered all over Dixon Entrance ; their nesting-habits 

 are still in some doubt, but much enquiry amongst Indians 

 leads to the belief that they fly to high mountains inland 

 and burrow there, but whether in colonies or singly has 



