40 NATURAL niSTORY COLLECTIONS IX ALASKA. 



cover is removed a callous membraue bearing feathers is exposed, aud these feathers exteud up 

 and pierce the fallen scale. The basal angle of the lower mandible becomes pliable before the 

 horny cover breaks, aud a dark suffusion shows as though a watery tlnid had exuded between the 

 horny sheath and the cartilage. 



A bird taken the middle of September had the bill ouly a little over one-half the size usual in 

 spring aud the beak was soft aud pliable. When these birds are at rest the membranous horns 

 over the eyes are soft aud incline inwards over the top of the head, but when the bird becomes 

 excited they are erected and stand stiffly upright over the eyes. 



From the island already described a number of these birds, both young aud old, were taken 

 home alive, and kept in a pen for some time. They fed upou the fragments of fish thrown to them, 

 aud but for the cold weather could have been retained for months. They were awkward-appear- 

 ing birds and would sit blinking iu the same spot for hours at a time. The moment they caught 

 sight of a person, however, they became panicstruok aud would rush to the darkest corner of 

 the pen, where every bird tried to hide its head iu the corner. When first taken they were ex- 

 tremely vicious, biting and using their long sharp claws with considerable effect. Although bitten 

 by them dozens of times yet they never drew blood, but when they secured a good hold they 

 could pinch pretty hard. 



Young and old leave their northern breeding grounds about the 20th of September. A small 

 island in Kotzebue Soaud is a resort for thousands of these birds iu summer. Eggs of this bird 

 measure about 2.7.5 by 1.75, and are white, more or less soiled, and iudistiuctly marked with fine 

 reddish-brown specks. 



Cerorhinca monockrata (Pal!.). Rhinoceros Auklet. 



Bischoff secirred nine specimens of this bird at Sitka during the Telegraph Explorations 

 Since that time nothing additional concerning the habits and distribution of this species in Alaska 

 has been learned. 



PTTCHORAMrHUS ALEUTicus (Pall.). Cassiu's Auklet. 



This species occurs on the coast of the North Pacific from the Aleutian Islands to Lower Cali- 

 fornia. 



CYCLORRnYNCHUS psiTTACULUS (Pall.). Paroquet Auklet. 



In the passes among the Aleutian Islands these birds were common in May, 1877, and on June 

 17, the same season, they were again seen off the eastern end of Saint Lawrence Island. We 

 were on our way to Norton Sound, when, during the day mentioned, we became beset by the pack- 

 ice and held for about a day. When the ice opened and allowed us to escape, the water became 

 covered by thousands of these strange little birds. The sun was just rising after its brief disap- 

 pearance below the northern horizon when we made sail from our unsafe berth, aud made slow 

 progress through the moving ice. The cakes were of every shape and size, and were rendered still 

 more fantastic by the peculiar light. The ice showed beautiful shades of blue aud green topped iu 

 dazzling white. The sea was almost black, except where it reflected the vivid crimsons of the sky. 

 Far off to the west arose the tall cliffs on the shores of Saint Lawrence Island. A thin white 

 mist formed aud vanished over the ice, which the rising wind begau to force on before it. The 

 grinding of ice-cakes, one against the other, and the low but increasing roar of the wavest as they 

 gain'ed power among the separating fragments, all united to render this one of the most grand and 

 impressive scenes witnessed during my northern experience. The only sounds of animate creat- 

 ures heard as the vessel made its perilous way in a zigzag course, every now and then coming iu 

 contact ■with a piece of ice so as to wrench everything on board, -were the low whistled notes: 

 of the Parrot and the Crested Auks, which now surrounded us by thousands. For some hours, iu 

 fact until we had left the ice well behind, these birds were all about swimming buoyantly from 

 side to side or skurrying away from the bow of the vessel. The following day a few were seen ofif 

 the Yukon mouth, but my subsequent experience showed that this bird is very rare along the 

 east coast of Bering Sea. Like a number of other species they appear to have a strong prefer- 

 ence for deep water and the islands situated in it. 



