224 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



from Xovaja Seinlja may come down to the Baltic, bnt iiotliing defi- 

 nitely is known. 



Immature specimens in black plumage, but with mottled speculum, 

 are often found south of the breeding range of the species during sum- 

 mer. Thus, I have seen specimens of that kind collected by Mr. ^Nelson 

 at Stewart Island, near St. Michael's, Alaska, in the month of June. 

 There is no reliable account, however, of the bird haviug bred south of 



Beriugs Strait. 



Cepphus grylle 



breeds on the coast of northern and northwestern Europe. It occurs 

 from the White Sea all around the shores of the Scandinavian Penin- 

 sula and Finland, and is still found breeding on several of the Dan- 

 ish Islands, including Bornholm, in the Baltic, one of its most south- 

 ern breeding places in Europe, being less numerous, however, in the 

 lower latitudes than higher north. On the British Islands and Ireland 

 it is couflued to the northern parts, and is found on the Hebrides, on 

 St. Kilda, the Shetland Islands, and the Orkneys. Common on the 

 Fair Islands and all round Iceland; "numerous nowhere, but common 

 everywhere," as Faber says. The Tyste is a partial resident in the 

 countries where it breeds, but many retire to somewhat more southerly 

 latitudes during the coldest season. At that time they are found com- 

 mon at the German coasts of the Baltic and the North Sea, the 

 southern parts of Great Britain, and more rarely along the coasts of the 

 jSTetherlands and Northern France. 



In the Western hemisphere its distribution seems to be much more 

 limited. It is known to breed in Greenland (Fiusch, U. S. Nat. Mus.), 

 and probably also on several localities along our northeastern coast; 

 but as the authors of local faunas have not distinguished between 

 mandtii and the present species, the true ffrylJe, and as the Museum pos- 

 sesses only few authentic American specimens in breeding i)lumage, noth- 

 ing can be said Avith certainty about its breeding range on our conti- 

 nent. An old bird in full summer plumage without black mottliugs on 

 the speculum is in the collection, from Eastport, Me., July 1, and this 

 is the only certain locality at present known to me. But I think it is 

 safe to assume that this is the more southern form, and that it is not 

 found north of Newfoundland, the species \vhich Bryant found breed- 

 ing in the Saint Lawrence Bay probably being the one in question. 

 During winter it cofties further south, and a specimen from that season 

 is in the Museum, having been shot at Philadelphia. 



It is most important that the ornithologists along the coast from New 

 Jersey to Labrador should be on the lookout for these birds in order to 

 have determined, as soon as possible, the exact range of so interesting 

 a breeding bird of the United States. 



The species does not at all occur in the Pacific Ocean, and all refer- 

 ences from there and the adjacent portions of the Arctic Ocean belong 

 to colvmba and mandtii. 



