LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN DIVING BIRDS. 117 
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them until we could dimly see the outline of the cliffs, we crept along 
the shore into Village Cove. 
Spring.—The paroquet auklet, or “baillie brushkie,” as it is called 
by the natives, arrives in the Commander Islands about the last of 
April and in the Pribilofs early in May. It is not nearly as abun- 
dant as the least auklet and is much less gregarious. It does not fly 
about in such enormous flocks or swarms, but is comparatively soli- 
tary in its habits, quiet, and unobtrusive. A few were always to be 
seen sitting in little groups on the low rocky cliffs of St. Paul Island 
or flying out to circle around us in quiet curiosity. Probably many 
of them were away at sea on their feeding grounds, and some were 
calmly dozing on the rocks. Their nests or eggs were safely hidden 
away in the remote crevices in the cliffs or under large rocks beyond 
our reach. 
Nesting—On July 7, 1911, I spent one of the most eventful after- 
noons of my life studying the nesting habits of this and the hosts of 
other sea birds that make their summer home on the wonderful, 
little, rocky islet of the Pribilof group, Walrus Island. Here we 
found the paroquet, crested, and least auklets, together with the 
tufted puffin, nesting under the loose piles of water-worn bowlders 
which were piled up in a great ridge in the beachlike center of 
the island, connecting the higher extremities. By rolling away such 
of the bowlders as we could move, we succeeded in uncovering some 
two dozen nests. Compared with the other auklets, which were very 
lively and noisy, the paroquet auklets were very gentle and tame; 
they did not seem to be greatly disturbed or alarmed by our rock 
moving operations; we usually found the female, and occasionally 
the male, sitting quietly on its single egg, serenely looking at us with 
its big white eyes. The curious up-turned red bill and the white 
under parts were easily recognized even in the dark recesses of its 
nesting caverns. There was only a single egg in each case, which 
was lying on the bare rock or soil or on a bed of loose pebbles; no 
nesting material had been brought in. 
The paroquet auklet breeds abundantly on the high rocky 
islands of northern Bering Sea and into Bering Strait. On the 
precipitous cliffs of St. Matthew Island, 200 feet or more above the 
sea, we saw a few pairs apparently breeding among the fulmars and 
pufiins, but their eggs were beyond our reach in the inaccessible 
crevices in the rocks. They were so tame and unsuspicious that I 
took a snapshot at one as it sat on a lofty pinnacle of rock within 
a few feet of me, watching the cloud of fulmars sailing below. 
Eggs.—tThe single egg is practically “ovate” in shape, with a 
slight tendency toward “elliptical ovate” in some specimens. The 
shell is finely granulated, almost rough and without any luster. The 
color is usually dull white or bluish white, but some eggs are de- 
