Jan., 1915 
BIRDS OBSERVED ON FORRESTER ISLAND, ALASKA 
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iug sides of the island from the shore line to a height of from 400 to 500 feet, 
their number and distribution depending upon the nature of the soil and the 
character of the surrounding vegetation. The most favorable nesting sites ap- 
pear to be the dense spruce woods where the shadows are of such depth that 
ferns and underbrush find but scanty foothold, and the soil is soft and friable. 
In such localities over four hundred burrows have been counted in an area 
six hundred feet square, but where the salmon- and elder-berry are abundant, 
and ferns form a tangled mat, or rock outcrops are plentiful and the soil thin 
the nests are of less frequent occurrence or are absent altogether. While no 
Fig. 14. Diagrams of Rhinoceros Aukxet burrows 
complete and accurate count is possible it is safe to say that not less than fif- 
teen thousand pairs of these birds found a home on Forrester Island during 
the past season. 
Judging from this year’s observations the breeding season commences in 
the latter half of May. At this time the old burrows, which have caved in 
during the winter or have become clogged with debris brought in by mice, are 
given a thoroughgoing cleaning, and the accumulation of spruce needles and 
cones, decayed grass, moss, leaves, stems and earth scraped to the front of the 
