FAUNA OF THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS AND ALASKA PENINSULA 35 



sea from Ketchikan to the western part of Alaska Peninsula. 

 The black-footed albatross occurs commonly in the Gulf of Alaska ; 

 it was observed in the vicinity of Kodiak, and frequently along 

 the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian chain, though it rarely 

 was observed near land. This albatross also was seen in the 

 waters of Bering Sea, just north of Alaska Peninsula and the 

 Aleutians. We found these birds particulary plentiful at the 

 Petrel Banks, north of Semisopochnoi Island. Laing (1925) re- 

 ports them "about 100 miles north of Kyska Island." Though 

 these birds were usually far offshore, there are two places where 

 they came near land — Seguam and Kiska Islands. 



Nelson (1887) was of the opinion that the northern limit of 

 distribution was considerably south of the Aleutians and quotes 

 T. H. Bean to the effect that latitude 51° marked the northern 

 limit. Turner (1886), on the other hand, stated that the species 



is quite a common bird in some localities north of the Aleutian Islands. 

 In Bristol Bay in June, 1878, I saw numbers of them in the vicinity oi 

 Cape Newenham . . . Toward the western Aleutian Islands they are not 

 common but are frequently met. 



It is not certain that this albatross ranged beyond latitude 51° 

 N. in the past, nevertheless it does so today, and, at least in the 

 Bristol Bay region, it reaches nearly to latitude 58° N. Further 

 consideration of albatross distribution will be found in the dis- 

 cussion of the short-tailed albatross. 



An interesting story was told to me by several old natives at 

 Atka Island. They insisted that albatrosses used to nest in small 

 numbers on Bobrof Island, on top of the mountain, in winter. 

 Judging by the descriptive gestures of one informant, icicles 

 formed on their beaks while the birds were incubating. This is 

 indeed a strange legend. It seems unbelievable that any of these 

 albatrosses could have tried to nest in the Aleutians, but at least 

 these Aleuts were talking about the proper nesting season. 



If I correctly understood the information given me by the 

 Aleuts, they do not distinguish two species of albatrosses in the 

 islands, possibly assuming that nigripes is the young of albatrus, 

 in which case this stoiy might more properly apply to albatrus. 



A female D. nigripes collected June 17, 1936, near Seguam 

 Island weighed 6V4 pounds and had a wingspread of 85 inches. 



The black-footed albatross is said to feed on whatever be- 

 comes available at the surface of the water, including refuse 

 from ships— this is true for our experience in the Aleutians. 

 On one occasion, a dozen were following our ship; they were 

 attracted bv fish offal thrown overboard by the sailors, who 



