Forrester Island, Alaska, is the favorite breeding resort of these interesting birds. It is estimated that about 15 thousand pairs raise families there. Indians say the species has greatly decreased.
When arriving toward last of May, the birds give the old homes a thoro Spring house cleaning, heaping the debris in front of the entrances. These tunnels are sometimes twenty feet long but usually about ten feet with side shoots. Incubation is shared by both parents and is divided into a day and night watch. While one broods the other is fishing at sea.
They are swift flyers and are known to make a trip of sixty miles each way to a favorite fishing area. Their food in this locality consists entirely of sea launces.
Coasts and islands of North Pacific from Sitka to Washington. Winters south to Lower California.