532 WEB-FOOTED BIRDS. 



pole, having been obtained by Dr. Richardson from the 

 dreary coast of Melville Island, in the latitude of 75° and 

 76°, in August, where they were seen by thousands. It is 

 probably almost the last bird seen within the desolate and 

 glacial boundaries of -the earth. In Greenland and Spitz- 

 bergen they congregate in great flocks ; and in the depth of 

 winter, watching the motion of the ice in the offing, when 

 it is broken up by storms, they crowd by thousands into 

 every opening fissure or flaw, in order to snatch up the ma- 

 rine productions on which they subsist. Mr. Audubon 

 found a few. breeding on the coast of Labrador. In New- 

 foundland they are called the Ice-Bird, being the sure har- 

 bingers of severe weather, as they seldom proceed far from 

 their inclement natal regions, except when accidentally 

 driven to shore by storms. In the United States their ap- 

 pearance is always solitary, being mere wanderers as they 

 are also along the milder coasts of Europe. Their uniform 

 predilection is for the hyperboreal regions of their nativity, 

 and they even fatten in storms when not overwhelmed by 

 their fury ; as, at these times the small Crustacea, and ma- 

 rine insects on which they feed are cast up and brought to 

 the surface in greater abundance. At times they appear to 

 fly well, as appears by their extensive accidental migrations, 

 having sometimes been met with considerably inland. The 

 water, however, being their more natural element, they dive 

 with great facility, and are often observed dipping their bills 

 into the water as if drinking. 



Those which have been obtained in this vicinity, usually 

 in the depth of winter, have sometimes been found in Fresh 

 Pond, and so lean and exhausted, by buffeting weather and 

 fatigue as to allow themselves to be quietly taken up by 

 the hand. 



Like other species of the genus, and the family generally, 

 associated with the Razor-Bills, they seek out for their breed- 



