222 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN DIVING BIRDS 



the water they are entirely safe from the natives, but seem to be very stupid 

 when on land and are then easily captured with nets. When one alights on a 

 rock it is immediately joined by others, until there is a struggling mass, as if 

 it were the only rock in the neighborhood on which to alight. At such times 

 they are easily approached and the quick use of a net or a well-directed stone 

 usually results in the destruction of a number. 



Again (1902) he says: 



Dovekies display great curiosity, and if the hunter sits quietly in full view 

 he will soon have an audience of them near him, all bent on occupying one 

 rock, regardless of its size or of their numbers. A compact flock of birds 

 soon results, and a well-directed stone thrown into their midst does great 

 execution. Stones may be thrown a number of times at the same flock before 

 they decide to adjourn. 



Dr. Hayes (1867) gives us the following graphic account of how 

 he accompanied an Eskimo on an auk-catching expedition in Green- 

 land: 



The birds were more noisy than usual, for they had just returned in im- 

 mense swarms from the sea, where they had been getting their breakfast. 

 Kalutunah carried a small net, made of light strings of sealskin knitted to- 

 gether very ingeniously. The staff by which it was held was about 10 feet 

 long. After clambering over the rough, sharp stones, we arrived at length 

 about halfway up to the base of the cliffs, where Kalutunah crouched behind a 

 rock and invited me to follow his example. I observed that the birds were 

 nearly all in flight, and were, with rare exceptions, the males. The length of 

 the slope on which they were congregated was about a mile, and a constant 

 stream of birds was rushing over it, but a few feet above the stones, and, after 

 making in their rapid flight the whole length of the hill, they returned higher 

 in the air, performing over and over again the complete circuit. Occasionally 

 a few hundreds or thousands of them would drop down, as if following some 

 leader, and in an instant the rocks for a space of several rods would swarm all 

 over with them, their black backs and pure white breasts speckling the hill 

 very prettily. 



While I was watching these movements with much interest my companion 

 was intent only upon business, and warned me to lie lower, as the birds saw 

 me and were flying too high overhead. Having at length got myself stowed 

 away to the satisfaction of my savage companion, the sport began. The birds 

 were beginning again to whirl their flight closer to our heads so close, indeed, 

 did they come that it seemed almost as if I could catch them with my cap. 

 Presently I observed my companion preparing himself as a flock of unusual 

 thickness was approaching, and in a moment up went the net; a half dozen 

 birds flew bang in to it, and, stunned with the blow, they could not flutter out 

 before Kalutunah had slipped the staff quickly through his hands and seized the 

 net. With his left hand he now pressed down the birds, while with the right 

 he drew them out one by one, and for want of a third hand he used his teeth 

 to crush their heads. The wings were then locked across each other to keep 

 them from fluttering away, and with an air of triumph the old fellow looked 

 around at me, spat the blood and feathers from his mouth, and went on with 

 the sport, tossing up his net and hauling it in with much rapidity, until he 

 had caught about a hundred birds; when my curiosity being amply satisfied, 

 we returned to camp and made a hearty meal out of the game which we had 



