198 ALASKA. 



the only two I ever observed on the islands. When I came 

 upon them, July 29, 1872, they were apparently feeding upon 

 insects, and upon a small black berry which ripens on the 

 highlands,*' (the fruit of the Empetnun nigrum.) 



543. Icarus g:lai1C CIS, BRt^^.—GJaueous Gull. Burcjomasicr. "Cbikie." 



" This large, handsome bird is restricted by reason to Walrus 

 Island alone, although it comes sailing over and around all the 

 islands, in easy, graceful flight, every hour of the day, and fre- 

 quently, late in the fall, will settle down by hundreds upon 

 the carcasses on the killing-grounds. But upon Walrus Island 

 this bird is at home, and there lays its eggs in neat nests, built 

 of sea-ferns and dry grass, placed among the grassy tussocks 

 on the center of the island : — there are no foxes here. 



^' It remains by the islands during the whole season. Though 

 it is sometimes driven by the ice to the open Avater fifty to a 

 hundred miles south, it returns immediately after the floe dis- 

 appears. 



''The 'chikie' lays as early as the 1st to 4th of June, depos- 

 iting three eggs usually within a week or ten days. These 

 eggs are large, spherically oval, having a dark grayish-brown 

 ground, with irregular patches of darker brown-black. They 

 vary somewhat in size, but the shape and pattern of coloring is 

 quite constant. 



" The young htirgomastcr comes from the shell at the expira- 

 tion of three weeks* incubation, in a pure-white, thick coat of 

 down, which is speedily supplanted by a brownish-black and 

 gray plumage, with which the bird takes flight, having nearly 

 the size of the parent. This dark coat changes within the 

 next three months to one nearly white, with the lavender-gray 

 back of the adult; the legs change from a pale-grayish tone to 

 the rich yellow of the mature condition, and the bill also passes 

 from a dull-brown color to a bright yellow with a red spot on 

 the lower mandible. 



^^It has a loud, shrill cry, becoming soon very monotonous. 

 by its constant repetition, and also utters a low, chattering 

 croak while coasting. 



"It is a very neat bird about its i^est, and keeps its plum- 

 age in a condition of snowy purity. It is not very numerous^ 

 I do not think that there were more than five or six hundred 

 nests on W^alrus Island at the time of mv visit, in 1872.'' 



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