46 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 61, FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



and they are fairly prevalent throughout the chain, some having 

 been noted at Wrangell Cape on the west side of Attu Island. 



Arnold (1948) recorded a concentration of about 38,000 fulmars 

 in Unimak Pass on June 9, 1944. Throughout the Aleutian 

 district, the dark color phase predominates, though some con- 

 centrations of the light phase were encountered. On May 21, 

 1936, Cecil Williams estimated that 50 percent of the fulmars 

 seen in Unimak Pass were light colored, and that most of those 

 sighted on the north side of Unimak Island were whitish, though 

 there were entire bands of dark ones. 



It is interesting to recall that Nichols (1927) found "the dark 

 phase to light phase about as 99 to 1" in Shelikof Strait; else- 

 where in the Pacific, it was about 9 to 1; near Unimak Pass, 

 the pale and dark birds "were in .about equal numbers;" and in 

 Bering Sea, they were almost all pale. 



Nesting 



Nesting fulmar colonies have been known in the Bering Sea 

 region, on the Pribilofs, where light-colored birds are in the 

 majority; on the Siberian coast opposite St. Lawrence Island; 

 and at Copper Island, where light-colored birds are rare. Nesting 

 places in the Aleutians had been suspected, but they had not been 

 found. It was gratifying, therefore, to find several such colonies 

 in 1936 and 1937, and in 1940 Gabrielson found other colonies 

 east of the Aleutian chain. 



In 1940 Dr. Gabrielson learned that Sea Otter Island, near 

 Afognak, supports a colony of fulmars. This nesting colony would 

 account for the fulmar flocks so often observed in Shelikof 

 Strait. In the same year, on June 18, he found nesting colonies 

 in the Semidi Islands, and says, "The enormous concentrations of 

 Fulmars, for example, was a great surprise to us, as the colony 

 apparently has developed since the previous exploration." In 

 the Semidi group, he found the fulmars in "huge colonies" on 

 Aghik and Choweit Islands, and there were fulmars also on 

 Kateekuk, Anowik, Kiliktagik, and Suklik Islands. They were 

 mostly of the dark color phase, with an occasional light-colored 

 one. 



In the Aleutians proper, we had found at least four nesting 

 places. Among these, Chagulak Island is outstanding. As we 

 approached this island on June 15, 1936, it loomed as a peaked 

 mountain top rising sheer from the water. It affords nesting 

 sites for a variety of sea birds, and a swarm of fulmars swirled 

 above its top and milled about its slopes. On the cliffs of the 

 south side there were small recesses in the red crumbly rock 



