THE BIRDS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 391 



ing, when liuiiger admonishes them that it is time to seek food far out ou the waters of 

 Bering Sea. In the evening it is again gone over before settling on the rgcky shelves 

 of the 900 vertical feet of the great cliff of St. George. As Elliott has well said, "this 

 is a dress parade of ornithological jjower which I challenge the world to rival;" and, 

 taken in connection with the enormous abundance of the choochkie, it is hard to 

 conceive that its equal can be found. They mass in close ranks on the numerous i)ro- 

 jecting shelves of the cliiis, where they lay their single large, spotted eggs on places 

 where one wonders if it is possible for them to remain uninjured for the period of about 

 twenty-five days necessary for hatching. When setting they face the rocks, back out, 

 and have to turn before leaving; so that when alarmed or excited during their con- 

 stant (piarrels and making a sudden turn it often happens that the eggs roll oft' and 

 are dashed upon the rocks below. Like other water birds, they pluck out the feathers 

 of the center of the upper abdomen to permit the egg to come in contact with all the 

 body warmth possible, and this assists in causing the egg to leave its rocky nest w-hen 

 the movement of the bird is hasty. Elliott speaks thus of their actions on the cliffs in 

 the early summer : 



They quarrel desperately, but not by scolding ; it is spirited action ; and so earnestly do tbey fight, 

 that all along below the high bluff of the north shore of St. George, when I passed thereunder during 

 the breeding season, I stepped over hundreds of dead birds which had fallen and dashed themselves 

 to death upon the rocks while clinched in combat witli their rivals; for they seize one another in mid- 

 air and hang with their strong mandibles so savagely to each other's skin and feathers that, with the 

 swift whirring of their powerful wings, they are blinded to their peril and strike the earth beneath 

 ere they realize their danger and immediate death. 



Several times during the season at Walrus Island and, when opportunity offers, 

 elsewhere, the eggs are collected for food. Soon after the 1st of June several natives 

 XJaid a visit to Walrus Island and selecting the freshest eggs ruthlessly destroyed all 

 the others, so that when we visited the place on June 13 we were able to secure 

 between three and four thousand fresh eggs. This occurs every year with no appreci- 

 able effect on their numbers, as later visits are not permitted. The eggs are fairly 

 good eating when one gets accustomed to them, but the albumen is extremely viscid 

 and the yolk dark: the taste is not disagreeable. Like probably all their conge- 

 ners the small young are fed by disgorged crustaceans, but I know that the larger 

 young and even quite small individuals are fed upon whole fish. On August 4, I col- 

 lected a young murre and also a small fish, a tufted blenny, Bryostemma poli/acto- 

 cepJialus (Eo. 43005 U.S.IST.M.), lying at its side. I had previously witnessed the feed- 

 ing of several others. With the breast to the rock the mother lands, and bending her 

 head downward to her young utters a harsh, croaking sound. The youngster raises 

 its head and, taking the fish from its parent's bill by the tail, works it sideways in its 

 own bill, until it gets the head in its mouth, when the fish rapidly disappears. If the 

 young has had enough the fish is laid at its side until needed. The fish is carried by 

 the parent with the head partly down its throat, the tail sticking out from between the 

 mandibles. In some adult specimens the dilated x>art of the base of the upper man- 

 dible, the tomia, is quite whitish. The tarsi are yellowish pearl gray in color, dark 

 between the scales in front and especially at the joints. The webs are also dark. In 

 some specimens the toes are a brownish yellow. I have a series of seven specimens 

 of the downy young not over a week old, the youngest having been assisted out of the 

 shell by myself. The white of the underbody and the dark of the neck forms a sharp 

 line, little blending showing. The general color of the back is darker than in call- 



