36 BIRDS 



excitedly moving about the rocks, they are generally utter- 

 ing their piercing notes, often more shrill than the 

 scream of the gull. When the birds enter their burrows 

 they may be heard uttering a sound not unlike a disturbed 

 feline. 



Puffins are sociable birds, found in the uninhabited por- 

 tions of our sea coasts, where they deposit their single white 

 egg in burrows. Both male and female assist in incubation. 

 From the burrow containing the downy young the old bird 

 may be removed with the hand, when the nestling is usually 

 found clinging by the bill to the wing or tail feathers of 

 the parent. 



MARBLED MURRELET 



Marbled Murrelets, as the name implies, are diminutive 

 murres. There are several varieties, all making their homes 

 on the Pacific Ocean, usually on the islands. Large num- 

 bers of this species are observed at Sitka, Alaska, and they 

 inhabit the Aleutian Islands, where they reach their north- 

 ern limit at their breeding grounds in this chain of remote 

 islands, while the southern range is as far southward as 

 Vancouver Island and the coast of British Columbia. They 

 fly rapidly and swini and dive like a grebe, but seldom 

 alight except in rocky places, where it is possible for them 

 to launch into the air and eventually return to the water, 

 for the legs of these birds are set so far back upon the body 

 as to make them extremely awkward on land. 



The eggs are deposited in holes made in the turf or sod 

 overhanging the brow of a cliff. One and sometimes two 

 eggs are laid. 



