52 ifATUEAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS IN ALASKA. 



The jouiig are hatched the last of Jaue or first of July and are ou the wiug early iu 

 August. At this time the young of this species, iu couipauy with those of fjlaucescens, are fouud 

 quartering the marshes, tide-creeks, and seacoast iu every direction and are very unsuspicious 

 and curious, following every boat or kyak they come across. Their note is like that of the adult. 

 At this time the feet, legs, and base of bill of the young are pale flesh-color, outer third of latter 

 dark horn color, iris hazel. 



The last of August aud September forms the moulting season of the adults, and their iris be- 

 comes golden yellow, the gape, ridge of culmen, and a bar across the mandible where occurs the 

 vermilion patch in spring, are yellow, the rest of bill dull fiesb-color. Feet and legs pale flesh-color. 

 The wing-feathers of these gulls are lost iu pairs, one from each wing, aud fall in rotation from the 

 innermost secondary to outer iirimary. The tail feathers "are dropped in rapid succession, but the 

 wing-moult extends over weeks. 



These are among the last birds to quit the marshes, and are found very numerous along the 

 coast until the last of October, when the ice closes the water. 



The fur traders secui-ed young birds from the Upper Yukon at Fort Reliance on September 28 

 aud October IS, the river being frozen over ou the latter date. They occur at intervals along the 

 entire Y'ukon. 



Mr. Dall records the capture of the young (under tlie name of hutchinsi] as taken at Fort Yukon 

 byJNIr. Lock hart. 



During the cruise of the Corwiu iu the summer of ISSl the writer found this tine bird every- 

 where along the coast of Bering Sea aud the Arctic Ocean visited by us. 



They nest upou all the Aleutian Islands, although not enumerated by Mr. Dall iu his lists of 

 the birds found there, he doubtlessly including both this species aud (jlaucescens under the latter 

 name. 



Upon the Fur Seal group both species occur aud breed, but iu his list of the birds fouud ou 

 these islands Mr. Elliott only mentions the " Burgomaster." Although the latter are very com- 

 monly seen circling over these islands, they nest almost exclusively upon Walrus Island, a detached 

 rocky islet, where the birds have no fear of the depredations of foxes, which swarm on the larger 

 islauds. 



They nest the first of June, laying, as on the mainland, three eggs. In three weeks the young 

 appear, covered with a white, downy coat, soon giving place to the brownish gray first plumage. 



Mr. Elliott thinks there were about five or six hundred nests ou Walrus Island in 1872. 



This fine bird also nests ou Saint Matthew's, Saiut Lawreuce, aud the Diomede Islands iu 

 this sea. 



Their habits vary with the locality. At one part of the coast they nest ou small islets iu 

 marshy lakes, aud at others they place their uests overhanging the breakers on some rugged cliff', 

 aud again the upland ou some sea-girt isle is the chosen spot. 



Except about thgir breeding places or about a great feeding resort the Burgomaster is inclined 

 to be suspicious and does not allow a near approach. The young require at least three years in 

 which to acquire their full plumage. 



North of Europe and Asia Nordeuskjold found the Glaucous CtuU nesting on the Bear Islauds, 

 Spitzbergen, Nova Zembla, and the New Siberian Islands. 



Larus leucopterus Faber. Iceland Gull (Esk. Ku-'kizh-U-icuK). 



This isi, perhaps, the most abundant gull along the coasts and about the islauds of Bering 

 Sea, thence along the adjoining Arctic coasts. It was fouud abundant ou the Yukon, from Auvik 

 to tiie sea, by Mr. Dall, who secured its eggs there from the 5th to 10th of June. The eggs were 

 laid in small depressions iu the sandy beaches of the islands in the river. 



Along the marshy stretches of the coast it also frequents the ponds aud sluggish streams and 

 uests on small islets exactly as does its larger relative, harrovianus. At many points they nest 

 upou the cliffs of the bold islauds or the rocky coast line. Their habits are almost identical with 

 those of harrovianus. The first leads in the ice at sea during the last of April or first of May 

 brings these gulls about aud they remain until forced south by new ice the last of October. 



