The Cassin Auk let 
pieces in a single night in their effort to locate their proper burrows. In 
this respect they remind one of nothing else so much as beetles or moths 
which come hurtling into the region of candle light, and without an in¬ 
stant’s pause for presumed necessary recovery, begin an animated search 
for an imaginary exit. This crash-and-crawl method seemed not 
exceptional but characteristic. It was especially noticeable in the paved 
area just outside our workroom doors. (We occupied an outbuilding of 
the light-keepers’ quarters.) Crash! announced the arrival of another 
food-laden wanderer from the unknown. The impact against the building 
invariably stunned the bird so that it fell to the ground, but immediately 
it began a frantic search, and as likely as not, before we could lay hands on 
it, it disappeared under a crack in the doorstep. “Right here," from a 
certain spot under the floor announced the home-coming, and so enthu¬ 
siastic would be the reception accorded the tipsy reveler that for a time 
all human conversation above had to be suspended. 
The Cassin Auklets are everywhere on the Southeast Farallon. Bur¬ 
rows, of course, predominate, but there is not a cranny, nook, cleft, crack, 
Taken on the Southeast Farallon Photo by the Author 
AN ANCIENT NESTING GROUND 
H7i 
