98 THE OSPREY. 



several varieties of umbelliferous plants are also abundant. Insects are scarce^ 

 reptiles and batrachians apparently absent. 



1. Limda cirrhata. Tufted Puffin. 



Abundant but much wilder than the next. They never have a leader in 

 their flight and leave and join a flock at will. 



2. Fratercula arctica. Horned Puffin. 



Common, but shy. They seldom allowed me to approach nearer than fifty 

 yards. When disturbed they fly out to soa and make a very large circle before 

 returning, then passing the cliff whence they started they repeat the operation 

 before alighting. 



3. Cyclorrliynchus psittaculus. Parroquet Auk. 



Quite numerous and breed with the least Auklet, usually. Their flight 

 is about the same, straight and swift. They intermingle with the "Cooshkies, ' ' 

 that is, they will go where they go, in bunches of from five to twenty or more. 

 It is most abundant on St. Geoi'ge, and here its breeding places are 

 somewhat different, as it seems to prefer to scratch out the loose soil between 

 and under the boulders on the plateau back of the cliffs. The nest, or rather 

 the place where the nest ought to be, is some feet down in between these 

 rocks, the egg being deposited on the bare earth. 



4. Simorhynchus C7'istatelhis. Crested Auk. 



Less numerous than either the preceding or the Least Auk. Its flight is 

 essentially the same with a peculiar way of holding the head, twisting it from 

 side to side as if near-sighted. Its habits are about the same, going out to sea 

 to feed and bringing in its throat food for its young, consisting of some kind 

 of marine animal mashed into a jelly-like substance, usually of a pinkish color 

 and of an odor of the sea. Both the Least Auk and also the Parroquet Auk 

 seem to feed on the same thing, as I have found it in nearly all specimens 

 taken after the young birds are hatched out. 



6. Simorhynchus pusillus. Least Auk. "Chooshkie." 



This little Auk is very abundant and I think that it is the most common 

 bird on the island of St. George. It is a summer resident, arriving in the 

 spring and departing in the fall in a very mysterious manner; so lam informed 

 by Dr. Otto Voss, who has wintered on the island. He says, "you see them 

 every day and take no notice of them, then some day they are conspicuous for 

 their absence, one and all, none outstaying the flock. ' ' 



Their food is the same as the others as near as I could determine. On 

 St. Paul Island they nest among the loose rocks along the water's edge. I 

 have never seen their nest further back than 50 yards from the sea. On St. 

 George Island they did not frequent the shore so much, but the majority in- 



