LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN DIVING BIRDS. 99 
devote much time to them. There were also a few pairs of horned 
puffins circling with a cloud of tufted puffins about another small 
island in this bay, where a large number of the latter species were 
breeding. Mr. L. M. Turner (1886) says of the nesting habits of 
this species among the Aleutian Islands: 
Their nests are placed on the ledges of the highest cliffs of those islands where 
foxes are found, and on islands where foxes are not found these birds breed 
generally at the bases of bluffs, under the large rocks which have become de- 
tached and fallen down. Their nest is composed of just whatever happens to 
be there, be it sticks, stones, or earth. A few feathers may be dropped from 
the bird, but not for an evident purpose of nest construction. A single egg of 
clear white color is laid on the bare gravel or earth. The egg is very large for 
the size of the bird, and when cooked is tolerable eating. The bird sits long at 
a time on the egg, and does not leave it until hunger compels her to seek food. 
Mr. H. W. Elliott (1880) says: 
This mormon, in common with one other species, M. cirrhata, comes up from 
the sea in the south to the cliffs of the islands about the 10th of May, always 
in pairs, never coming singly to, or going away from, the Pribylovs in flocks, 
It makes a nest of dried sea-ferns, grass, and moss, slovenly laid together, far 
back in some deep or rocky crevice, where, when the egg is laid, it is ninety-nine 
times out of a hundred cases inaccessible; nothing but blasting powder would 
open a passage to it for man. It has this peculiarity: It is the only bird on 
these islands which seems to quarrel for ever and ever with its mate, The 
hollow reverberations of its anger, scolding, and vituperation from the nuptial 
chamber, are the most characteristic sounds, and indeed the only ones that 
come from the recesses of the rocks. No sympathy need be expended on the 
female. She is just as big and just as violent as her lord and master. 
Mr. B. J. Bretherton (1896) gives an unique account of the nest- 
ing habits of this species on Kodiak Island; he writes: 
On first arriving, these birds do a great deal of flying; they gather in 
bands, and sit perched on the rocky face of some high bluff, and keep up a 
continuous whistling call, at irregular intervals the whole band will leave the 
bluff and fly a short distance out to sea and return. 
The eggs of this species are laid in a tunnel, or burrow, dug in the ground 
by the bird, and a few handfuls of dry grass and feathers constitute the nest. 
The construction of the tunnel is unique; it always has an opening at both 
‘ends. The nesting site is some high rocky bluff overhanging the sea, and near 
the top where the soil lies on the rock, the bird commences its excavations, 
first constructing a sort of runway for a few feet along the face of the bluff, 
then going directly inward, sometimes in a straight line, while others are 
crooked. In the same way, the length of the tunnel is very variable, and the 
nest may be at most any distance from 2 to 10 feet from the face of the bluff. 
From the nest, the tunnel passes on inland, making a sharp upward turn to 
the surface of the ground. 
The same burrows are used year after year, but whether by the same birds 
or not was not ascertained. Some burrows have by long usage become as large 
as rabbit holes, while newly made ones are only just large enough to admit the 
birds. Both entrances are used indiscriminately by the bird, and it is sur- 
prising to see with what accuracy they can fly directly into the holes in the 
ground. 
55916—19—Bull. 107-8 
