BIRDS. 45 



They uest upou the Fur Seal Islands, aud are especially numerous on the Diomedes in Bering 

 Straits, where we secured fresh eggs the middle of July, ISSl. They are not common on the east 

 coast of the sea, where the wu.ter is shallow, and are scarce also in Xorton Sound for the same 

 reason. 



A few pairs of a black Guillemot, which at the time I took to be this species, were seen in 

 Kotzebue Sound aud others at dxpa Lisburne, but the deep bays and deep water ou the Siberian 

 coast of Bering Sea and the adjacent Arctic afford them a favorite summer resort, and they find 

 an abundance of breeding jilaces on the clifl's there. The red feet of these birds are used by the 

 Eskimo of the straits for ornaments ou some of their clothing, aud the skins are used for clothing. 

 In winter their plumage changes to a pied mixture of black aud white, aud when hunting far out 

 at sea the Eskimo of Norton Sound find them late in November about the holes in the ice. 



A specimen in this mottled dress was brought me on August 24 one season at Saint Michaels. 

 It measured 13 iuches in length by 22.50 inches in extent. Its beak, was dark horn-colored, except 

 a streak of light flesh color aloug the culmen over the nostrils. The iris was hazel and the feet and 

 legs dirty flesh color. In spring, the last of March and first of April, they are again found among 

 the open spaces at sea by the native hunters. 



Uria troile californica (Bryant). California Murre (Esk. AM' -pa). 



An abundant resident along the entire Aleutian chain and the mainland coast of the Pacific. 



Birds and eggs have been taken at Sitka and Kadiak, and they occur throughout this region. 

 On the Fur Seal Islands Elliott found them to occur in small numbers. They breed on the 

 Commander Islauds. They swarmed about Herald Island when we visited there August 12, 

 1881, aud the downy young, small black balls of dowu, only a day or two old, were taken 

 there. Wheu we landed upou the unknowu shores of Wrangel Island we fouud tliem breeding 

 on the cliffs there, but in smaller numbers. While we were scaling the cliffs on Herald Island 

 these Guillemots would scarcely make way for us, and a few feet away sat almost bolt upright and 

 stared at us with a comical expression of amazement. Their close resemblance to the next species 

 with which they were associated rendered it impossible to distinguish them except at very close 

 quarters. A party of about fifty was seeu on the chfi' of Saint George's Island on one occasion, 

 but they were more common in twos and threes. 



Uria lomvia aeea (Pall.). Pallas's Murre (Esk. Athl'-pu.) 



Wherever the coasts and islands of Alaska are bordered by rugged cliffs and rocky declivi- 

 ties this bird is fouud in great abundance. They occur at Kadiak and along the adjacent coast 

 fi-om Sitka to the peninsula of Aliaska. The precipitous shore lines of the Aleutian Islauds afford 

 them a favorite resort during the breeding season, and the surrounding waters make their winter- 

 iug place. They were extremely plentiful in great flocks in the passes near Unalaska during May, 

 1877, and storms forced them to find shelter in the deep bays. The middle of June, the same sea- 

 son, they were seen iu large numbers off the Fur Seal Islands and off Saint Lawrence Island. It 

 is an abundant resident of the Near Islands. At Point Barrow it is reported by Murdoch to be au 

 occasional visitor, usually iu the broken ice offshore. The Eskimo sometimes found a stray indi- 

 vidual off Saint Jlichaels the first of May, but they were rarely seeu until the last of this month. 



During June they gathered about their nesting places in Norton Sound as the ice disap- 

 peared, but several seasons fresh eggs were brought in the last of July and first of August. 

 Cape Denbigh and a long cliff west of Cape Darby, on the north shore of Norton Sound, are uflted 

 breeding resorts, the latter place being called Athlpul t gtt (or Murre Place) by the Eskimos. All 

 the islands of Bering Sea are frequented by myriads of them iu summer, their abundance about 

 the Fur Se^il group and the Diomede Islands in the straits being specially noticeable. They breed 

 in small numbers ou Chamisso Islet, in Kotzebue Sound, and ou the clifts near Cape Lisburue, but 

 were not seen by us north of that point. They are very numexous ou the Siberian coast, and were 

 the most numerous birds ou Herald and Wrangel Islands. They breed abundantly ou the Com- 

 mander Islands, according to Stejneger. Whenever we approached these islauds during the sum- 



