®fo> HarbUr x 7 



The Paroquet Anklet, also is a common breeding species on the Dio- 

 mede, though not by far so abundant as the above previously named species. 

 They seem to prefer holes in the ground for nesting places and were there- 

 fore mostly found on the few grass-grown patches in the hillside where loose 

 rocks were less numerous, as well as under the turf, on the edge of the sky 

 rockwalls along the coast, the same localities occupied by the Puffins. But 

 occasionally the Paroquit Anklet I found breeding in rocks and stones also; 

 as well I observed a number of Least and Crested Auks to nest in the 

 vegetation. 



On the Northwestern point of the island is a rookery of Pacifiic Kitti- 

 wakes, Pallas Murres and Puffins (Horned and Tufted). The only way to 

 get at a part of this rookery is from above, and though this was a difficult, 

 not to say a dangerous bit of climbing, I managed it all alone. On one place 

 I had lowered myself by a rope to descend upon the highest shelf of the steep 

 rock wall. The great majority of the young Kittiwakes were at this time 

 more than half fledged and quite a number of them flew away at my appear- 

 ance. While passing around the sharp corner of the cliff and seeking a grip 

 for my hand in a crack, I got without the slightest warning so violent a 

 bite in my fingers, that I quickly pulled them back. It proved to be a 

 Horned Puffin that made this unexpected attack on my person, and as the 

 crack was partly overhung with turf, and situated above my head, I after- 

 ward discovered that if my foothold had been less firm, it might have caused 

 me a fatal fall. 



Most of the young Murres, yet to be seen, were at the stage when they 

 made the plunge from their high cliffs into the sea beneath. TKey all look- 

 ed so young and small to me, when I reached this little colony, that I never 

 expected them so far developed and was therefore much surprised, when 

 upon trying to catch them by hand, to see one after the other jump off their 

 shelf and sail some sixty or seventy feet down through the air like small 

 torpedoes. Upon striking the water they dove and swam a good distance 

 under the surface as if this sport was an old one to them. I managed how- 

 ever, to catch a few young of this age and though their wings were of mini- 

 mum size and wholly unfit for flight, the rest of the body was full feathered. 

 The average length of the young Murres at the stage ready to make the 

 dive was found to be 8^ inches, while the adult birds measured from 16 

 (male) to 17 ^ (female) and by this early development of its young the 

 Murres (and its cousins the Alca torda of the N. Atlantic) differ from all 

 other divers breeding in cliffs. The young of all species of Puffins, Gulli- 

 mats, Auks, etc. keep their downy plumage till they are almost full grown, 

 and stay on their nesting ground till they are full fledged and able to fly. 



A number of Cormorants were observed flying around the coasts and 

 four specimens secured proved to be Plialacrocorax bicristatus in fall plum- 



