82 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN DIVING BIRDS 



15. Idaho: Lake Coeur d'Alene, October 6. California coast: Ar- 

 rives in September. 



Egg dates. Greenland and Iceland: 33 records, May 10 to July 

 21 ; 16 records, June 6 to 21. Mackenzie: 15 records, June 10 to July 

 25 ; 8 records, July 1 to 6. Northern Alaska and Siberia: 1 1 records, 

 June 6 to July 15; 6 records, June 26 to July 4. Hudson Bay and 

 Labrador: 8 records, May 30 to July 5; 4 records, June 6 to 19. 



Family ALCID^E, Auks, Murres, and Puffins 



Lunda cirrhata (Pallas) 

 TUFTED PUFFIN 



HABITS 



After six long days at sea we were thoroughly tired of tossing about 

 on the turbulent waters of the Pacific Ocean, weary of watch- 

 ing even the graceful evolutions of albatrosses, fulmars, and petrels, 

 and we hailed with delight our first glimpse of the Aleutian Islands, 

 as the rugged peaks of the Krenitzin group, Tigalda, Avatinak, and 

 Ugamak, looked up in the horizon, dimly outlined in the foggy dis- 

 tance. They are the sturdy sentinels of rock that guard the entrance 

 to Bering Sea, shrouded in perpetual mist, their snow-capped sum- 

 mits enveloped in heavy banks of cloud. Such is the gateway to 

 this interesting region and here we were introduced to its wonderful 

 bird life. We had seen a few tufted puffins at sea, migrating toward 

 their summer home, but it was not until we reached the entrance to 

 Unimak Pass that we began to realize the astonishing abundance of 

 this species in that region. The sea was smooth, and scattered over 

 its surface for miles, as far as we could see, were thousands and 

 thousands of tufted puffins. We stood in the bow and watched them 

 in their ludicrous attempts to escape as we passed through them. 

 The wind was very light and was behind us, which made it almost 

 impossible for them to rise from the water; they flopped along the 

 surface in the most helpless manner; they barely managed to avoid 

 being run over, but almost never succeeded in flying and only oc- 

 casionally did they have sense enough to escape by diving, at which 

 they were very skillful. They had probably only recently arrived 

 and were congregating in the vicinity of their breeding grounds. 

 The tufted puffin is largely pelagic in its habits, during the great 

 part of the year migrating well out at sea, almost out of sight of 

 land, and gradually working in toward shore, as the breeding sea- 

 son approaches. They are usually in pairs when they arrive. 



Spring. The arrival of the "Toporkie," as they are called, is a 

 cause of great rejoicing among the Aleuts, for it heralds the approach 

 of summer and means an abundant supply of good food, for both 



