[316] BIRDS OF OREGON 



Cassin's Auklet: 



Ptychoramfhus aleuticus (Pallas) 



DESCRIPTION. "Bill broader than deep at base; upper outline nearly straight. 

 Upper parts slaty black; sides of head, neck, and throat plumbeous; spot on lower 

 eyelid, and under parts white." (Bailey) Downy young: "The downy young is 

 'blackish brown* or 'fuscous black' when first hatched, fading to 'fuscous' or 'hair 

 brown' when older, on the upper parts; the throat, breast, and flanks are paler; and 

 the belly is 'ecru drab,' 'drab gray,' or 'drab.' " (Bent) Si%e: "Length 8.00-9.50, 

 wing 4.75-5 .2.5 , bill .75 . " (Bailey) Nest: A burrow from one to several feet in length 

 or a natural cavity or crevice on rocky islands off the coast. Egg: i, white, un- 

 marked, though often with a greenish-bluish tinge. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds on Pacific Coast from Lower California to Aleutian 

 Islands. Winters from Puget Sound southward. In Oregon: Found off coast through- 

 out year. 



CASSIN'S AUKLET is found throughout the year on the Oregon coast, 

 although most of our records are in July and August. Visitors to the 

 Oregon coastal waters will have no difficulty in identifying it, as it is 

 the smallest of the offshore species regularly found there. It is usually 

 found commonly off the mouths of harbors and bays, where it feeds on 

 the surface or under water, using both wings and feet during its under- 

 water activities. Frequently the birds are seen apparently flying directly 

 out of the surface of the water. Despite their plain dresses of gray and 

 white, it is rather interesting to watch their absurd, chunky bodies 

 bobbing about on the surface. Dead birds are at times washed up on the 

 beach during December, January, and February, following heavy offshore 

 storms in which these auklets suffer in common with many of the other 

 offshore species. Little attention has been paid to the species as an 

 Oregon bird, our first record being that of Loomis (1901), who in 1898 

 found it abundant off the mouth of the Rogue. It is not otherwise men- 

 tioned except in our own notes and publications. There is only one inland 

 record. It was taken in Portland and brought to Jewett on October 4, 

 19x1 (Jewett Coll. No. 3452.). 



The bird breeds on little rocky islands offshore along the Pacific Coast. 

 It apparently is absent on Three Arch Rocks. At least Jewett and Finley 

 have been unable to find it there on any of the trips they have made. 

 The only definite breeding record we have for the Oregon coast is re- 

 ported by Braly (i93oa), who obtained adults and young on June 15, 

 1930, on Island Rock just off Port Orford. A careful search of the other 

 rocky islands along the Oregon coast would certainly reveal the presence 

 of this bird as a breeding species. 



A number of Oregon stomachs collected by Alex Walker at Netarts 

 during December and January showed forms of mollusks, bones of small 

 fish, pieces of sand dollar, seeds oiCeanothus and Lathyrus, forms of lichens, 

 and remains of one Nereis. 



