THE BIEDS OF THE PKIBILOF ISLANDS. 385 



them. They are fairly tame, and one can with care approach quite close without 

 frightening them. Like all the other members of this family, they leave the cliffs in 

 the morning and pass the day at sea, returning in the evening with food in their 

 mouths and throats for the young, or possibly for the sitting mate. Thus during the 

 day few are seen as compared with the thousands at other times, and on days of bright 

 sunshine fewer still remain on the cliffs. They are very noisy when down among the 

 rocks, but silent when in the open. Alarmed and compelled to fly oft' the rocks, they 

 will frequently return and, flying parallel with the cliff, survey the intruder with a 

 curious twist of the neck, which is made all the more comical by the peculiar waxy 

 bill and oddly colored head. No. 118672 ad. 9 U.S.N.M., August 2, 1890. St. Paul, 

 W. Palmer. Callosity at corner of mouth, pale orange. Feet pale orange, webs 

 darker; is evidently a female just oft" from sitting. Eggs white with obscure spotting 

 wreathed around large end. Three specimens collected by Mr. Elliott on St. George 

 July 4, 1873, are 2.78 by 1.80; 2.57 by 1.75; 2.77 by 1.75. 



22. Cyclorrhynchus psittaculus (Pall.). Paroquet Auklet. "Baillie-BrushMe." 

 Phaleris aleuUcits, Coinde, Rev. et Mag. Zool., 1860, 403. 

 Phaleria paiitaculua, CouES, in Elliott's Ept. Aff. Alaska, 1873; Bepnnt, 1875, 204. — Elliott, 



Mon. Seal Ids., 1882, 134.— Grant, Cat. B. Br. Mus., 1898, 607. 

 Simorhynchiis psittaculus, CouES, Key, 1890, 806. 

 Cyclorrhynchus psittaculus, Nelson, Bds. Alaska, 1887, 41. — Townsend, Cruise, Cortvin, 1887, 



98. — A. O. U. Ch. List, 1895, 7. — Ridgway, Man. 1896, 12. — Stejneger, Cruise, Corwin, 



1884, 125. 



As mentioned by Elliott and others, the Whitebreast is almost a solitary bird. 

 They never fly inland and rarely pass inside 6f the edges of the bluft's. While the 

 greater number spend the day far out at sea, some can always be found dozing near 

 the entrance to their burrows, and can then be easily approached. Their pure white 

 breasts, red upturned beaks, and quaint, watchful movements as one is gradually 

 drawing nearer make them very interesting objects. On Walrus Island they lay their 

 solitary egg under the bowlders like the puflflns and are often taken by the natives 

 when they visit that rock. When they return from the sea in the evening to their 

 young or mate, their mouths and throats are greatly disitended with an enormous 

 quantity of a small, almost colorless crustacean, which they obtain far out at sea. 

 The burrows on St. Paul, as far as I saw, were excavated in the volcanic cinders over- 

 lying the rocky bluffs, so that the entrance was always at the edge of the cliff, with 

 the rock as a floor. On St. George they are quite abundant in small flocks of four and 

 five, and may often be seen perched on the loose rocks, surrounded by numbers of the 

 least auklet. Taken on a bright day, the white iris of a wounded bird is so wide that 

 the ])upil is reduced to the size of a small pin's head, and this changes in size rapidly 

 as the bird is placed in the dark or light. 



White flloplumaceous feathers are to be found on the heads and necks of some spec- 

 imens mixed in with the dark normal feathering, No. 151598, S , July 12, 1895, St. Paul, 

 True, and Prentiss, has a few on the nape. Another S , August 2, 1890, W. Palmer, 

 has many all over the head, especially on the throat. No. 62551, 9 , July 9, 1872, St. 

 Paul, H. W. Elliott, is a peculiar one in this respect. There are several large ones on 

 each side of the head, just above the eyes, and also a number clustered directly back 

 of the eyes, with an intervening dark space. All these feathers are pure white, have 

 a long, glossy white stem or shaft, are club shaped and pointed at the upper end and 

 5947_PT 3 25 



