The Horn-billed Puffin 



watched him in a cauldron of contending waters which threatened to 

 dismember him. Upon reappearing at the surface, the bird first wagged 

 his tail sidewise, to remove superfluous moisture, apparently, then sat 

 rigidly with the foreparts somewhat depressed in the water, the head and 

 bill horizontal, and the points of the wings and the tail sticking up at an 

 angle. If the fishing was good, these rest periods lasted only two or three 

 seconds, while the submergence lasted from twenty to thirty seconds in 

 each case. In diving the bird pitched forward and kicked with the feet, 

 which had remained, meanwhile, at right angles to the body, and at the 

 same time he opened the wings part way, so as to catch the water with the 

 first stroke. When pursued by the bird, its prey, apparently a tiny fish 

 of some sort, would almost invariably escape by rising. It was almost as 

 invariably seized at the surface, whereupon the bird, without pausing 

 for breath, instantly retired, turtle-fashion, to the depths. In this way 

 the puffin might break water accidentally half a dozen times before it 

 was ready to come up for its rest interval. 



"Santa Cruz Id., April 17, 1915. Ha! There is no sport like that of 

 the bird photographer after all ! By way of compensation for unrewarded 

 efforts through a dull morning, the sun burned 

 off the fog just after lunch and I went at 

 it again. My first victim was a Red- 

 breasted Merganser, surprised at 

 close quarters as he was working 

 at the very edge of the smashing 

 waves. The next was the 

 Horn-billed Puffin, who has 

 adopted this stretch of coast, 

 and whose fortunes I have 

 been permitted to follow this 

 week. He was in sight from 

 camp when I started out this 

 afternoon, but either he was 

 wary or else the tide 

 wasn't yet to his liking, 

 for he lay offshore some 

 twenty fathoms and 

 would not dive. Finally, 

 in despair, I ostenta- 

 tiously quitted my hiding 

 place on the beach, re- 

 turned to camp, and then 



. . 1 1 «ii Taken on Destruction Island, off the coast of Washington 



took a sneak over the hill a sulky hen 



Photo &}■ the Author 



1521 



