BIRDS. 39 



from the Aleiitiau cliaiu south, but are summer resideuts thence north. Tliey are equally abundant 

 along both shores of Bering Sea, and south they are found on the coast of California and that of 

 Japan. They also occur on the Commander Islands. Thousands of them breed on every rocky 

 island and whenever a ve.ssel nearsland in this region the clumsy form of the Puffin soon becomes 

 a familiar sight. Sheltered fjord-like bays or the surf-washed shores of exposed islands are 

 equally chosen as the birds' haunt, and they are equally abundant in the shallow waters of the 

 Alaskan coast of Bering Sea and the deep cold waters of the Siberian shore. 



At the Fur Seal Islands these birds arrive about the 10th of May, in pairs, but near Saint 

 Michaels I have never seen them before the 10th of June and rarely before the 20th of that month. 

 At the latter place and at other northern points their arrival is governed by the date when the ice 

 leaves the coast for the summer. The young take wing in August at the Seal Islands, but north of 

 that point they are rarely fledged before some time in September. 



On September 9, 1879, 1 visited a small islet a few miles from Saint Michaels, where the Puffins 

 were breeding in great numbers. The islet arose about 25 feet above the sea and was a mass of 

 rugged basaltic bowlders. Among the crevices hundreds of the Puffins were breeding. Both 

 species were here, but the tufted species was in very small numbers compared with the bost of 

 the other kind. The young were mostly about half grown, but many only just from the shell and 

 some not even yet hatched were found. The young could be easily located under the stones by the 

 thin metallic piping note they kept uttering during the parents' absence. As we walked about 

 the oldbirdscould be heard scuttling about below, uttering a hoarse, snuffling, rattling note, which 

 sounded at a short distance like a low growling noise. With a slipping noose on the end of a ram- 

 rod it was an easy matter to capture any number of them by simply walking about and peering 

 down into the crevices, and when a bird was seen pass the noose over the bird's bill and drag 

 the captive out. They would scratch and bite viciously and utter their usual note in a loud 

 hoarse key. 



During our stay the air was full of birds circling about, and often passing within a few feet of 

 us. The young were easily captured by removing the stones, and they also fought when taken. 

 The loose rocks were surrounded by a network of passages, and if it had not been for the birds 

 stupidity they could have easily avoided capture. As we began removing the stones overhead, 

 young or old would scramble forward and thrust their great beaks into the first crevice which 

 offered, although not an inch wide, and then they would push and sti uggle desperately to force their 

 way through until taken in hand. Even when they managed to escape after being dragged out 

 they would frequently scramble back to the same place again. It was a common occurrence for 

 them to strike among the rocks with a thud as they tumbled off their perches towards the water, 

 and then scramble over the rocks with laughable haste and iiually plunge under water and make 

 ofl; or go flapping desperately along the surface until exhausted. Overhead circled hundreds of 

 the birds, nearly all of which carried fishes in their beaks for their young. These fishes were 

 sticklebacks and sandlances. Some of the birds carried from three to five small fishes at once; 

 the latter were all placed side by side crosswise in the bird's bill. 



At this time the bill-moult was just commencing. The first evidence of this process is shown 

 by the wearing asvay of the lower mandible ou the under surface at the angle. This wearing ap- 

 pears to be brought about by the friction of this point on the rocks, as the birds use the projecting 

 angle as a hook to aid them in climbing— as I frequently saw them do. The wearing of the lower 

 edge of this mandible leaves a horny scale like plate on each side of the mandible, with its lower, 

 edge free and easily scaled away in small fragments. The inclosed angle of the mandible is now 

 a soft cartilaginous projection, which shrivels and reduces the size of the beak at that point. 

 Next the horny, bead like rim along the base of the upper mandible gradually loosens at each end 

 below, and at the same time becomes freed from its attachment to the mandible, leaving a deep 

 sulcus between, exactly as if done by a skillful cut with a scalpel. This bead-like rim now forms 

 a part of the skin of the head and moves as such perfectly independent of the beak. Then the 

 narrow piece of sheath between the nares and the cutting edge of bill loosens and scales ofl". The 

 entire base of the mandible is now in an exfoliating state and scales away, working toward the 

 ])oint of the beak. The narrow piece along the frontal line is pitted — each pit marking the posi- 

 tion of a feather, as is shown in many cases where minute feathers are present. When this horny 



