6 PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA [No. i. 



they were often noted along the coast in the vicinity of Cape Blossom. The 

 note or "laugh" of this loon is different from that of the Black-throated, and read- 

 ily identifies it at a distance. 



LiiJida cirrhata Pall. 



Tufted Puffin. 



The Tufted Puffin is apparently an uncommon bird north of Bering Straits. 

 One flew close about the "Penelope" on July 7, '98, as we were sailing into Kot- 

 zebue Sound through the broken ice-pack. On July 9, '99, I saw a very few 

 Tufted Puffins around Chamisso Island in company with thousands of the Horned 

 Puffins. There were not over a dozen in all and probably less, for I may have 

 seen the same ones several times. One was flushed from a burrow in the turf 

 near the edge of a bluff, but the hole was too deep to investigate. The species 

 was undoubtedly breeding. 



Fratercula corniculata (Naum.). 

 Horned Puffin. 



This species was quite numerous in July out in the open sea, from Bering 

 Straits north into Kotzebue Sound. On July 9, '99, I spent the afternoon and 

 night on Chamisso Island. On this island and a smaller detached one bearing 

 northwest from it, the Horned Puffins were breeding in immense numbers. Their 

 nest-burrows were dug in the earth on top of the islands, principally on the verge 

 of the bluffs. These burrows were from one to three feet in length, with an en- 

 larged nest cavity at the end. The eggs generally lay on the bare ground, but 

 there was often a slight collection of grasses between it and the earth. The par- 

 ent bird was frequently found on the nest and would sometimes offer courageous 

 resistance to beingdragged forth, inflicting severe nips with its powerful mandibles- 

 Where there were rock slides on the side of the island, natural crevices and holes 

 among the fallen boulders were taken advantage of for nesting sites. In such 

 places eggs were to be found from the surf to the top of the island, and hy crawl- 

 ing amongst the boulders many eggs were discovered, but often in such narrow 

 crevices that they could not be reached. The birds usually flushed from their 

 nesting places before the collector reached them, being probably warned by the 

 vibration of footsteps on the rocks which I noticed to be quite perceptible when 

 one was in a narrow chasm. The eggs laid in these rocky niches were usually 

 provided with a scanty bed of dr}' grasses. All the eggs secured were fresh and 

 proved more palatable for the table than the murre'seggs. In a series of fifty 

 eggs of the Horned Puffin, there is considerable variation in size and markings. 

 In the large majority the ground color is pure white, but in four eggs it is cream- 

 buff. All the eggs exhibit shell markings, spots, blotches and in a few cases, 

 scrawls of dull lavender. Five of the eggs one would consider at first sight im- 

 maculate, but close scrutiny discloses the shell-markings though they are 

 extremely pale and few in number. Eight eggs in the series have outer spots and 

 fine dashes of Isabella color, and one of them is very closely covered by scrawls 

 and spots, with two large blotches of the same color. Also in this specimen there 

 are three of the lavender shell marks fully one-third of an inch in diameter. In 



