FAUNA OF THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS AND ALASKA PENINSULA 31 



cific record is the mention of two birds that he saw at Unalaska 

 Harbor, October 15, 1920, which he thought were of this species. 



Austin H. Clark (1910) mentions only one bird, which was 

 seen on a lake on Agattu Island in 1906. 



Turner, however, reported this loon, under the name of Uri- 

 nator pacificus, as a common breeding bird in the Near Islands 

 (1885), and, later (1886), he specifically reported one at Attu 

 in the winter of 1880-81 and said that they nested commonly 

 on Semichi Islands. Using the name Urinator arcticus, he said 

 that this species was to be found among the Aleutians at any 

 time of year, and he mentions seeing one at Amchitka Island 

 in June. 



These reports of Turner are rather surprising, and certainly 

 they are not in accord with more recent findings. We had abun- 

 dant opportunity to examine Agattu, Semichi, and Amchitka Is- 

 lands, which were specifically mentioned by Turner, and though 

 we found the common loon and red-throated loon, we did not see 

 an Arctic loon. Stejneger did not record it for the Commander 

 Islands, and it has not been recorded for the Pribilofs. 



Gavia arctica viridigularis is known to be an occasional Old 

 World straggler from Siberia to Alaska, and it has been recorded 

 on the Pribilofs. Turner recorded two forms for the Aleutians, 

 therefore it might be expected that viridigularis has occurred 

 among those islands. However, in view of the confusion that 

 has existed over the identity of the American forms of this loon, 

 and because of its complete absence from the Aleutians, in recent 

 years at least, a reported occurrence should be well authenti- 

 cated before being accepted. 



Gavia stellata: Red-throated Loon 



Attu : Ka-ka-dra-cha or Ka-da-dra-ka 



Atka: Ka-kach 



Russian, Commander Islands: Gargara (Stejneger) 



Russian, latitude of Yana: Gagara (Birula) ; Malaja gagara (Birula) 



Chukchi: Jouku (Palmen) 



As previously mentioned, the Russian word "gagara" is used 

 by natives in various parts of coastal western Alaska. This, and 

 the Aleut names, are imitations of the call of this loon. 



The red-throated loon is the most abundant and widespread 

 loon in the North, especially on coastal areas, and it occurs on 

 both shores of Bering Sea. On the basal portion of Alaska Penin- 

 sula it appears to be less abundant. Neither Gabrielson nor 

 Cahalane reported seeing it there, although they observed the 



