FAUNA OF THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS AND ALASKA PENINSULA 177 



common in the western part of the Aleutian chain and about 

 the Commander Islands. It was not found in Kamchatka nor 

 in the Kurils." 



Bishop (1900) says "One was seen by Osgood at Unalaska 

 (Dutch Harbor) Oct. 5, 1899." 



Nelson (1887) found them "in considerable numbers" at Un- 

 alaska on May 26 and Friedmann (1937) has recorded two 

 humeri from middens on Kodiak Island. 



We have no nesting records based on specimens. Nelson (1887) 

 says it is an "abundant summer resident in both the Near and 

 Commander islands." He had never been there and obviously was 

 quoting Turner. In 1885, Turner stated, writing of the Near 

 Islands, that the Pacific kittiwake was not abundant and was 

 not known to breed there, while brevirostris was an abundant 

 breeding bird. No specimens were taken. In 1886, speaking of the 

 Aleutians as a whole, he said, 



The Aleutian Islands and the Pribylof group are its home. On Akutan 

 quite a number were observed on a high cliff near the village on that island. 

 In the same year (1878) I saw a few at Sannakh, and in later years I 

 frequently saw them passing the vessel which I was on. To the westward 

 this kittiwake occurs more plentifully than tridactyla, with which it asso- 

 ciates. 



It is true that Clark reported the red-legged kittiwake becom- 

 ing "more common in the western part of the Aleutian chain," 

 but, on the whole, the situation today appears to be the reverse 

 of what Turner reported. Certainly we cannot say that the Aleu- 

 tians "are its home." We found that pollicaris was the abundant 

 bird in the Near Islands — based on careful examination of speci- 

 mens and of birds on nesting cliffs — while Turner stated that it 

 did not breed there. 



Wetmore, in 1911, and Gabrielson, in 1940, failed to note the 

 red-legged kittiwake in the Aleutians; Bent does not report any 

 nesting records, but he assumes that it nests there on the strength 

 of the records mentioned above. 



On our expeditions we observed kittiwakes closely at all times, 

 but we never identified brevirostris. All of the birds that we col- 

 lected proved to be the Pacific kittiwake. 



Turner (1886) obviously confused the short-billed gull with 

 the kittiwake, and it is possible that he was in error in his account 

 of the nesting of brevirostris. 



At any rate, we can be assured that the red-legged kittiwake 

 appears in the Aleutians as a migrant, because the observations 

 listed above probably involve migrants. The bird may also nest 

 in the Aleutians, but, in view of the uncertainties, any such claim 



