Page 41 - Animals of the Sakhalin Region in myths and legends

Hobby Kuril

(Cepphus columba snowi)

The body length of the guillemot is from 20 to 35 cm. The wingspan is no more than
60 cm, and the weight is from 100 to 130 g. The body is dense, the neck is elongated,
the head is small. The beak is medium in size, thickened at the base, and sharp at the
end and slightly curved downward. The color is predominantly black, only on the
wings there is an exception in the form of white areas. The beak is always black. The
tail is short, reminiscent of a duck. The paws are bright — red or orange.
Food items are fish, molluscs, crustaceans and other marine invertebrates.
Endemic to the Kuril Islands. During the nesting season, birds were observed in the
waters of island Iturup. During the wandering period, it was recorded in the waters of
southern Sakhalin. Winters in the waters of the Kuril Islands.

Eskimos from Hudson Bay, seeing funny little guillemots on the sea cliffs,
tell their boys and girls the story of how many children once played on the
edge of a high cliff.
Their noisy screams reached the beach and disturbed the seal hunters.
Then one of the hunters exclaimed:
— I want the rock to break off and fill up these noisy children!

At the same moment, the height did so. Poor children fell down on the
stones, and then turned into guillemots, which to this day live on a cliff by
the sea.

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