258 



The Crested Auklet 



boulders near the beaches than in high cliffs. In seeking the nests of the 

 Crested Auklets, and in fact the nests of any of the auklets, one needs 

 a tool not often used by the bird student a crowbar. 



To discover the nesting-places is easy. One has but to walk along the 

 great ridges of volcanic stones thrown up by the sea. The stones are 

 rounded and sea-worn pebbles, but they are gigantic pebbles and can- 

 not be readily removed. The auklets go far down among them, perhaps 

 three or four feet, and can be heard chattering there during any part of 

 the nesting season. 



The natives attempted to show us the nests. They lifted or rolled 



the heavy rounded stones for half an hour, until there 

 Dwelling among wag a drde Qf them around ug j fc hi h d fift 

 Boulders . . 



feet wide. Ihey worked in the central depression, 



carrying or rolling stones until the task became hopeless, and still the 

 auklets were chattering underneath the stones all about. Edward \Y. 



r 



A FAVORITE NESTING-PLACE OF AUKLETS, PRIBILOF ISLANDS, ALASKA 



Photographed by Dr. C. H. Townsend 



Nelson writes that on the northern islands of Bering Sea, St. Matthew. 

 St. Lawrence, and the Diomedes, the eggs are sometimes deposited in 

 exposed places, with little attempt at concealment. A set consists of a 

 single egg, white, with sometimes a few dark blotches, and measuring 

 on the average 2.10 by 1.40 inches. 



We found that a considerable part of the food of this and other kinds 

 of auklets consisted of amphipod crustaceans, or beach-fleas, as they are 

 called, when found under bits of seaweed along shore. These small 



