LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN DIVING BIRDS. 119 
higher elevation above the water than the other species. It travels 
long distances in search of food. It swims buoyantly and rapidly 
and it is a very good diver. 
I have no recollection of ever having heard the paroquet auklet 
utter a sound; it impressed me as being a particularly silent bird, 
Mr. Nelson (1887) noted that it has “a low, sonorous, vibrating 
whistle,” and Doctor Stejneger (1885) says that its “ voice is a clear, 
vibrating whistle, somewhat resembling that of Cepphus grylle and 
columba.” 
Winter.—By the middle or the last of August most of the young 
are on the wing and are beginning to leave the islands, from which 
they have practically all disappeared by the Ist of September. They 
gradually move out to sea and probably spend the winter on the open 
ocean. They must winter considerably farther south than the other 
auklets, for while the others have frequently been taken in winter 
near the Aleutian and Commander Islands, there are no winter 
records for the paroquet auklet in these regions. Doctor Stejneger 
(1885) says that he was not able to obtain a single specimen, even 
during the latter part of the summer, in the Commanders; that it 
was never “seen or heard of” during the winter, “nor was it ever 
during that season picked up dead on the beach after heavy gales.” 
On the Asiatic side it wanders as far south as the Kurile Islands. 
Mr. Rollo H. Beck (1910) has taken a number of specimens in Janu- 
ary off Monterey, California; they were several miles offshore, where 
they are probably more common than is generally supposed. 
DISTRIBUTION. 
Breeding range—Coasts and islands of Bering Sea. From 
Kodiak Island, the Aleutian Islands, Commander Islands, probably 
the Kurile Islands, and perhaps Kamtschatka northward to Bering 
Strait (Diomede Islands). Birds seen in July and August in 
southeastern Alaska were probably nonbreeding individuals or early 
migrants. 
Winter range.—Southward on the North Pacific, rarely taken 
ashore, and southern limit unknown. Recorded in winter from Ore- 
gon (Netarts Bay), and California (San Francisco Bay, Monterey 
Bay, off Point Pinos and Eureka, Humboldt County). On the 
Asiatic coast south to Kurile Islands. 
Spring migration.—Birds arrive at the Commander Islands late in 
April and at the Pribilof Islands from April 30 to early May. 
Migrants were seen at Forrester Island May 4. One was shot at 
Nushagak May 22. One taken at Sitka June 8 may have been a late 
migrant. 
Fall migration—Birds have been seen in Prince William Sound 
July 18 and August 27. The species leaves its nesting grounds in 
