260 
The Crested Auklet 
Seasonal 
Changes 
In length individual birds vary ^from eight and one-half to nine 
inches. 
The plumage in winter is the same as in summer, but the bill is 
markedly different. The Crested Auklet not only moults its feathers like 
other birds, but sheds the red, horny plates about the base of its beak 
after the breeding season. 
The very young bird, whose appearance has not long been known, 
is a ball of smoky down, in no way resembling its 
parents. In the immature bird the frontal crest and 
white feathers beneath the eye are wanting, or but 
slightly developed, while the bill is much smaller and dusky brownish. i| 
At the Pribilofs, it is no uncommon sight to see fur-seals, sea-lions, 
and many kind of sea-birds, including Crested Auklets, in great abund- * 
ance within a radius of fifty yards. i 
We need not concern ourselves, I think, about the preservation of j 
these auklets. They dwell among the high cliffs and boulder-strewn i 
beaches of a thousand uninhabited islands, and know how to stow away 
their eggs so safely that neither natives nor blue foxes can get them 
easily. 
Classification and Distribution 
The Crested Auklet belongs to the Order Pygopodes, Family Alcidce, and | 
Genus Aiihia. Its scientific name is Aithia cristafclla. It inhabits, all the yearij 
round, the coasts and islands of Bering Sea, moving southward in winter to the ^l 
Aleutian Islands and Japan. 
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