130 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN DIVING BIRDS 



were large numbers of paroquet and crested auklets and a few tufted 

 puffins. Here the nests were easily found, as the rocks were not large 

 and we could readily move them; nearly every suitable crevice seemed 

 to be occupied. Doubtless hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of 

 auklets must have been nesting here, for as we walked among the 

 loose bowlders we could hear a constant sound of many voices be- 

 neath us, twittering, cackling, squealing notes, and a variety of weird 

 calls, as the frightened birds sought shelter in the darkest crevices 

 or scurried out under our feet and flew away. The eggs were laid 

 on the bare rocks or on beds of small stones, with no attempt at nest 

 building. 



The eggs of the least auklet are not always laid in such accessible 

 locations. The birds often breed on rocky shores where the rocks 

 or bowlders are too large to move and where the eggs are far beyond 

 reach; such was the case at Kiska Island, where droppings or 

 feathers indicated an entrance to a nesting cavity, safe against in- 

 trusion. On St. Paul Island and on St. Matthew Island we found 

 them nesting in the deep crevices in the solid rocky cliffs, where their 

 eggs were entirely inaccessible. In such places one might work for 

 hours within a few feet of countless nesting birds and be unable to 

 secure a single egg, hence the scarcity of auklets' eggs in collections. 



Eggs. The breeding season of the least auklet usually begins in 

 June, though fresh eggs have been taken as early as May 28, 1890, 

 but it does not reach its height until the latter part of the month and 

 many of the eggs are not laid until July; although most of the young 

 are hatched during July, there are plenty of fresh eggs up to at 

 least the middle of the month. The eggs are always a pure white, 

 with a smooth but lusterless surface; they are "ovate" in shape, 

 sometimes rounded at both ends, but more often more or less pointed 

 at the small end. The measurements of 57 eggs, in the United States 

 National Museum collection, average 39.5 by 28.5 millimeters; the 

 eggs showing the four extremes measure 4 3 by 28.5, 40 by 33.5, 33.5 

 by 29, and 40 by 27 millimeters. 



Plumages. The young, when first hatched, are covered with a 

 thick coat of down, "fuscous" to "clove brown" above and "hair 

 brown" to "light drab" below; these colors become paler as the 

 bird grows older. The wings begin to sprout when the young bird 

 is about half grown, in August; and the white feathers begin to ap- 

 pear on the under parts at about this time. By the end of August the 

 young bird is fully grown and fully fledged, the last of the down 

 disappearing on the neck, rump, and crissum. This, the first winter 

 plumage, is slaty black above, including the wings, chin, lores, and 

 cheek, the scapulars pale gray and pure white below. The young 

 bird in winter is darker above than the adult and lacks the white 

 frontal plumes. This plumage is worn all through the winter and 



