THE CRESTED AUKLET 



BY CHARLES HASKINS TOWNSEND 



This is a sea-bird of the far North, frequenting the coasts and 

 islands of Bering Sea and the North Pacific Ocean. We first got 

 acquainted with the crested auklets at the Pribilof Islands, where 

 they abound, and afterward saw them in Bering Strait, and above the 

 Arctic Circle at Kotzebue Sound. Later, in the fishery surveys by 

 the steamship Albatross, we saw them from Kadiak Island and the 

 Alaska Peninsula through the whole Aleutian Archipelago, and be- 

 yond it to the Commander Islands, off Kamchatka. 



The bird is also found along the Kuril Islands, down as far as 

 Japan on the western side of the Pacific. Rich as our experiences 

 with the auklets were in many of these places, they did not prepare 

 us for what we were to see in the Shumagin Islands, south of the 

 Alaska Peninsula. 



On the evening of August i, the Albatross came to anchor in 

 Yukon Harbor, at Big Koniuji Islands, of the Shumagin group. While 

 the ship was working her way into this wild and uninhabited bay 

 everyone noticed the increasing numbers of crested auklets. The far- 

 ther in we went the more numerous they became, until the captain 

 called me to the bridge to tell him what I could about them. 



The birds were nearly all of the crested species, and were present 

 in myriads. The surface of the water was covered with them, and the 

 air was filled with them. Large, compact flocks launched themselves 

 into the air from the lofty cliffs, and careened toward the vessel with 

 great speed and whirring of wings. The crested auklets were here 

 more numerous than were the choochkies (least auklets) at St. 

 George, in the Pribilofs, celebrated as the center of abundance for that 

 species. 



Twilight did not come until after nine o'clock, and during the long 

 evening the birds were amazingly active. Flocks of them continued 

 to come in rapid succession from the cliffs, many passing close to the 

 ship at high speed and swinging about the harbor. After the anchor 

 was dropped near the cliffs, a loud blast of the whistle made the auklets 

 still more abundant. The bird-legions came from the cliffs until the 

 misty air and water about the ship was alive with them. 



These birds appeared to be nesting chiefly in crevices in the cliffs, 

 although they could be heard under the boulders near the beaches. We 

 did not stay long at Yukon Harbor, and I have always wanted to re- 



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