14 



NEBTS AND B0O8 OF 



17, Paroquet Auklbt, Fbmalb Adult, Summer. 



Like a number of other species, tlie Paroquet Auklet has a strong preference for 

 deep water and the islands situated in it. "It feeds at sea, flying out every morning, 

 returning in the afternoon to its nest and mate." The bird is known also .by the 

 name of Pug-nosed Auk. It is distributed irregularly throughout the Northern 

 Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea, being quite common on the Prybilof and Aleutian 

 Islands in the breeding season, which begins about the middle of May. During the 

 cruise of the Corwin in 1881 Mr. Nelson found the Paroquet Auklet breeding in ex- 

 treme abundance on the islands in Bering Strait, and great bunches of them were 

 brought on board by the Eskimo. Large numbers of eggs were easily secured. For 

 its nesting place this Auk selects a deep crevice in the face of some cliff; the cavity 

 is often winding, and it is sometimes exceedingly difiBcult to obtain the eggs. Even 

 on islands where hundreds of these birds are found breeding some of the cavities 

 cannot be opened, except by the means of dynamite or blasting powder, which, if 

 used, would destroy the eggs. A single egg is deposited on the bare surface of the 

 cavities; it is generally an oblong-oval shape with rounded ends, chalk-Tvhite or 

 bluish in color, and the shell rough. The average size is 2.12x1.46. Eggs taken on 

 the Seal Islands by Elliott measured from 2.25x1.50 to 2.35x1.45. 



18. CRESTED ATJKLET. Symorliynchus cristatellus (Pall.) Geog. Dist.— 

 Coasts and islands of the North Pacific, from Kadiak and Japan northward. 



The crested or Snub-nosed Auk, like the last, inhabits the coasts and islands 

 of the north Pacific. On the islands of Bering Sea its breeding season extends from 



May to August. This little bird has ■ 

 a beautiful crest on the forehead of 

 twelve to twenty feathers; it is about 

 two inches long, and curls gracefully 

 forward upon the bill. Its nesting 

 habits are like those of the 0. 

 psittaculus. Mr. Nelson says: "This 

 strangely ornamented bird has a 

 range almost identical with that of 

 the preceding species, and I do not 

 recall a single instance in which 

 the Paroquet Auklet was seen 

 in any numbers where the' present species was not found. A few were observed in 

 the passes near Unalaska in May, and the 13th of June a single pair were seen 

 off the Seal Islands. This bird breeds plentifully on the Near Islands, but does not 

 winter there. They also breed on the Commander Islands." He further records that 

 in Bering Strait and about Saint Lawrence and Saint Matthew's Islands this 

 species and C. psittaculus are found in equal abundance. They choose the same 



18. Orested Auklet, Summer. 



