THE BIRDS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 359 



murres, Uria lomvia arra, and U. troile californica. (Pis. XXXVIII, XXXIX.) They 

 keep apart. lu 1890 the first named occupied the western side, while the other, the 

 slender-billed and paler-colored bird, swarmed on the western side. An idea of their 

 numbers is shown in the following extract from Elliott: "On the occasion of one visit, 

 and my first one there, July 5, 1872, six men loaded a bidara at Walrus Islet, capa- 

 ble of carrying 4 tons exclusive of our crew, down to the water's edge with eggs in 

 less than three working hours." Thousands and thousands of these birds breed here 

 close together, almost touching each other, constantly quarreling, even fighting; com- 

 ing and going; while overhead the large gulls and more delicate kitti wakes are 

 hovering on quivering wing or protecting the vicinity of their nests from the crowding 

 swarms of the murres. At intervals entirely around the island are solitary or small 

 colonies of nests of the red-faced cormorant built in niches on the larger shelves. 

 (PI. XXXVIII, figs. 3, 4.) As the cormorant comes early, it is able to select and 

 maintain its position, but tbe murres crowd closely about its home. 



St. Oeorge. — Unlike St. Paul, this island has an exceedingly bold, rocky shore 

 line with no sand beaches, and but three small places worthy the name of a beach. 

 <'The island itself is a trifle over 10 miles iu extreme length, east and west, and about 

 4^ miles in greatest width, north and south. * * * There are several small reser- 

 voirs of fresh water — I can scarcely call them lakes — on this island ; pools, rather, 

 that the wet sphagnum seems to always keep full, and fi'om Avhich drinking water in 

 abundance is everywhere found. At Garden Cove a small stream, the only one on 

 the Pribilof grouj), empties into the sea. St. George has an area of about 27 square 

 miles." — (Elliott.) Standing on the deck of the steamer anchored ofl' the village of 

 St. George and facing the shore, one sees on his right the eastern end of a great clift' 

 which extends around the western end of the island, Avith an elevation of from 75 to 

 900 feet for some 14 miles. The sea washes its base for its entire length, but the force 

 of the waves is considerably broken by a multitude of huge, rounded bowlders, the 

 debris of former parts of the cliifs. The base of the cliff is basaltic, hard and durable, 

 but above the rock is less compact and is fractured into innumerable crevices and 

 holes ; and generally a rough stratification is noticeable — the shelves — which are parallel 

 to the surface of the water. These crevices and shelves afford innumerable nesting 

 sites for myriads of birds, which crowd every available space, are constantly coming 

 and going, qiiarreling and shifting, screaming, and even dying. Back from the cliff 

 toward the village is an immense area of rolling, sloping ground thickly studded with 

 huge masses of rock which lie in every possible positiou, and under which, deep down 

 in their recesses, myriads of the least anklet breed. Some twelve species only make 

 these places their summer home, but the numbers of individuals of several of these 

 may well challenge the admiration of the world. During early morning and late even- 

 ing their numbers are incalculable. For hours they swarm about the cliffs, the adjacent 

 land and sea, in indescribable numbers and confusion. Similar conditions prevail 

 almost entirely around the island. Inland the surface is rolling, with valleys and hills 

 deeper and higher than on St. Paul, but of the same general aspect. The same species 

 as on that island occur on these uplands, but another, the smallest bird of the group, 

 is found about the cliffs, the little Aleutian wren, which is not found on any of the 

 other islands. On the south side of St. George large colonies of the fulmar breed, 

 which, outside of a few on Otter Island, is its only summer home on the grouj). In 

 all else the avifauna agrees i)ractically with that of St. Paul. 



