HUNTING BIRDS WITH A CAMERA 



181 



On the next two flats just above ours 

 were two large "chicken yards" of 

 Murres. The clamor of these quarreling 

 birds lasted long into the night and began 

 with renewed vigor at daylight. 



Although everything was open in camp, 

 the ventilation was vile. The whole island 

 was rancid, in spite of the airing it got 

 from every wind of heaven. 



After breakfast we started out, Robin- 

 son Crusoe-like, to explore the rock. This 

 rose in abrupt cliffs from the sea, but the 

 south side, upon which we were camped, 

 was well ledged. 



By climbing from shelf to shelf and 

 zigzagging back and forth, we found a 

 way to the top. One shelf had to be scaled 

 with a rope. At another a projecting 

 knob enabled one to look straight over 

 the drop for 150 feet, and around this we 

 had to edge our way. A little above was 

 a portion of the cHff that was crumbly 

 and broken. Here we climbed from the 

 nest of one Cormorant to another and 

 clambered on up to the pinnacle of the 

 rock, where we could get an idea of the 

 size of the island. 



GULt SCRATCHES HIS EAR WHIEIv ON 

 THE WING 



One of the prettiest sights about the 

 rock was the Gulls, which filled the air 

 like so many feathery snowflakes. Their 

 immaculate white bodies and soft gray 

 wings tipped with black were delightful 

 to see. 



I liked to watch them because they were 

 masters of the air. There was a constant 

 adjustment of wings to meet every air 

 current that struck the rock ; but in a 

 steady breeze the movement was too slight 

 to see and they hung motionless, as if in 

 a painted sky. They tacked straight in 

 the teeth of the wind. I saw one retain 

 perfect poise and at the same time reach 

 forward with his foot and scratch his ear. 



A Gull in his own country will steal 

 and murder Hke a pirate. If a ]\Iurre or 

 Cormorant left its home without a guard, 

 these saintly looking scalawags swooped 

 down to eat the eggs and young. 



The Murre has a large, tough-shelled 

 egg which the Gull's bill cannot penetrate. 

 But these robbers know enough to pick it 

 up, fly out, and drop it on the rock below 

 or nose it along until it drops to the shelf 

 below, when they can devour the contents. 



Oftentimes I have seen a Gull pick up 

 a yoimg Alurre or Cfirnifirant not long 

 out of the egg and swallow the voungster 

 alive. The downward course of the }'oung 

 bird was marked by a bulge in the Gull's 

 neck. 



I have often seen a Western Gull act in 

 a way that speaks well for his sagacity. 

 I have watched him open clams and mus- 

 sels at the seashore. His bill is unfitted 

 for crushing the hard shell, but he will 

 take a clam, rise to a height of 30 feet, 

 and drop it to the hard sand and gravel 

 below. If it doesn't break, he will con- 

 tinue the performance. I saw one bird 

 df) this 15 times before he was successful. 



PETRELS BUIED ANNEXES TO PUEEINS' 

 NESTS 



The roof of the island rock is covered 

 from one to three feet deep with a loose 

 coating of earth. It is fertilized with the 

 guano of countless generations of sea 

 fowl. From this sprouts a luxuriant 

 growth of chickweed, clover, and other 

 grasses. 



The whole surface is so perforated with 

 the burrows of Tufted Puffins, Beal Pet- 

 rels and Gray Fork-tailed Petrels that 

 one can scarcely walk without sinking 

 into the nests. 



The Puffins dig in from two to three 

 feet, and a burrow will often have two or 

 three ojienings. 



A Petrel sometimes uses the door of a 

 Puffin's nest as an entrance and digs him- 

 self a kind of a side bedroom off the main 

 corridor. It is not unusual to find one or 

 two Puffins along the main hallway and a 

 couple of Petrels lodged in the attic. 



.\ near front view of a Tufted Puffin 

 is more like a modern battleship than a 

 member of the feathered tribe. It has a 

 huge red and yellow bill and long yellow 

 curls. According to the Lamarckian 

 theory, the bird has been doing nothing 

 since creation but sit around on the rocks 

 and bite open clams and mussels (p. 195). 



PUFFIN PROVES A \TCIOUS BITER 



J\Iy first experience with an old Puffin 

 prejudiced me. I wanted a Puffin's egg, 

 so I dropped on the ground, thrust in my 

 arm to take one, and was somewhat taken 

 in myself. I thought at first I had run 

 my hand into a beaver trap. I couldn't 

 set loose until I dug the beast out and 



