116 BULLETIN 107, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



the latter attain an amazing speed when pitching from the top of the islands 

 when released from the hand, the falcons overtake them with the greatest ease 

 and continue to slaughter, after their hunger has been appeased, for the mere 

 fun of it. This is perhaps why the auklets visit the colonies only after nightfall 



Winter. — The fall migration is not well marked, and probably the 

 winter home of this auklet is not far from its breeding grounds, as 

 it apparently spends the winter at sea throughout most of its summer 

 range. 



DISTEIBUTION. 



Breeding range. — Pacific coast, from Lower California (Cerros, 

 San Benito, San Geronimo, San Martin, Todos Santos, and Los 

 Coronados Islands) northward to southern Alaska (Forrester Island, 

 Egg Island, 200 miles west of Fort Wrangell and Sanak Islands) 

 and the Aleutian Islands (Atkha Island). North of California it 

 is somewhat local in its distribution. 



Winter range. — ^The open sea in the vicinity of its breeding places 

 at least as far north as Washington (Puget Sound). 



Casual records. — It is said that a specimen taken in Kamtschatka 

 is in the Berlin Museum. 



Egg dates. — =Farallone Islands: 64 records, April 3 to July 20; 

 32 records. May 29 to June 18. Lower California : 29 records, March 

 10 to June 8^; 15 records, April 6 to May 18. Santa Barbara Islands: 

 10 records. May 16 to June 29 ; 5 records, June 4 to 9. Sanak Islands, 

 Alaska : 2 records, June 6 ; 2 records, June T ; and 1 record, July 3. 



PHALERIS PSITTACULA (Pallas). 



PABOaiTET AUKLET. 



HABITS. 



The auklets, like the fur seals, of the Pribilof Islands spend the 

 greater part of their lives at sea and return to these lonely fog-bound 

 islands in Bering Sea to rear their young, where they are wholly 

 engrossed with the cares of reproduction. My short visit to these 

 islands in the summer of 1911 served only as an introduction and 

 gave me but a slight glimpse into their life histories. Our introduc- 

 tion to the famous fur-seal islands was characteristic of that dismal 

 climate. We had been sailing by compass all night from Bogoslof 

 Island, and morning found us still groping in the prevailing thick 

 fog, which serves to keep the seals' coats cool and moist, but is a 

 menace to mariners. At last, when we had about concluded that we 

 had missed our reckoning and had passed the islands, we began to 

 see a few of these large white-breasted auklets flying past us to the 

 eastward. Turning, we followed them, and before long we could 

 hear the barking, roaring, and bellowing of the fur seals in their 

 rookeries on St. Paul Island. Feeling our way carefully toward 



