PAROQUET AUKLET 117 



them until we could dimly see the outline of the cliffs, we crept along 

 the shore into Village Cove. 



Spring. The paroquet auklet, or "baillie brushkie," as it is called 

 by the natives, arrives in the Commander Islands about the last of 

 April and in the Pribilofs early in May. It is not nearly as abun- 

 dant as the least auklet and is much less gregarious. It does not fly 

 about in such enormous flocks or swarms, but is comparatively soli- 

 tary in its habits, quiet, and unobtrusive. A few were always to be 

 seen sitting in little groups on the low rocky cliffs of St. Paul Island 

 or flying out to circle around us in quiet curiosity. Probably many 

 of them were away at sea on their feeding grounds, and some were 

 calmly dozing on the rocks. Their nests or eggs were safely hidden 

 away in the remote crevices in the cliffs or under large rocks beyond 

 our reach. 



Nesting. On July 7, 1911, I spent one of the most eventful after- 

 noons of my life studying the nesting habits of this and the hosts of 

 other sea birds that make their summer home on the wonderful, little, 

 rocky islet of the Pribilof group, Walrus Island. Here we found 

 the paroquet, crested, and least auklets, together with the tufted 

 puffin, nesting under the loose piles of water-worn bowlders which 

 were piled up in a great ridge in the beachlike center of the island, 

 connecting the higher extremities. By rolling away such of the 

 bowlders as we could move, we succeeded in uncovering some two 

 dozen nests. Compared with the other auklets, which were very 

 lively and noisy, the paroquet auklets were very gentle and tame; 

 they did not seem to be greatly disturbed or alarmed by our rock 

 moving operations; we usually found the female, and occasionally 

 the male, sitting quietly on its single egg, serenely looking at us with 

 its big white eyes. The curious up-turned red bill and the white 

 under parts were easily recognized even in the dark recesses of its 

 nesting caverns. There was only a single egg in each case, which 

 was lying on the bare rock or soil or on a bed of loose pebbles; no 

 nesting material had been brought in. 



The paroquet auklet breeds abundantly on the high rocky islands 

 of northern Bering Sea and into Bering Strait. On the precipitous 

 cliffs of St. Matthew Island, 200 feet or more above the sea, we saw 

 a few pairs apparently breeding among the fulmars and puffins, but 

 their eggs were beyond our reach in the inaccessible crevices in the 

 rocks. They were so tame and unsuspicious that I took a snapshot 

 at one as it sat on a lofty pinnacle of rock within a few feet of me, 

 watching the cloud of fulmars sailing below. 



Eggs. The single egg is practically "ovate" in shape, with a 

 slight tendency toward "elliptical ovate" in some specimens. The 

 shell is finely granulated, almost rough and without any luster. The 

 color is usually dull white or bluish white, but some eggs are de- 



