Ill ORNITHOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS. 



will be seen from the measurements given below ; it matches average 

 Xorth American specimens in every i)articalar. 



Oi! the average the American birds are larger and their bills bigger 

 than true A. albifrons, although the diflereuce is much less than be- 

 tween the latter and enjthropus. In the United States National Mu- 

 seum, however, there is a specimen said to be from Abydos, which is 

 fully as large as the average American birds. The locality is not un- 

 doubted, however, and the specimen may have come from America. On 

 the other hand, a winter specimen from Texas is not larger than typical 

 cdbifrons, but is probably a migrant from Greenland, where this form 

 breeds and where A. gamheli is not known to occur. 



At all events, the measurements which I have taken have convinced 

 me that gamhc't is only a race or subspecies of olbifrons^ while the latter 

 may be regarded as specifically distinct from erythropus. 



The specimen from Bering Island measures : 



9 aih, V. S. Kat Mus. No. 92826, L. Stejneger No. 2021 ; Eamennij vallei/, Bering Island, 

 Man 10, 1883. 

 Total length 685'""'. Closed wings beyond tail 20""". Middle toe (without claw) 

 reaches tip of tail, legs being stretched backwards. Wing 417'""'. Tail-feathers, 

 124"'"'. Bill, from tip to frontal feathering, 51'"'"; along gape to angle of mouth 

 52mm J to posterior angle of nostrils 37"'"'. Breadth of bill at middle of nostrils 18™"' ; 

 height at base 29'"™. Tarsus 78""". Middle toe with claw 76"'"'. 



The following notes were taken down immediately after the bird was 

 shot and a colored drawing (pi. vii, tig. 2) made : 



Weight 6| pounds. Iris very dark brown. Bill, milky white ; the anterior part and 

 tomia with a very faint rosy tinge ; the posterior parts with a hardly perceptible wash 

 of bluish ; a square ligure on culmen, edges of nostrils, a small spot beneath them, 

 and the basal two-thirds of the lower half of the under mandible, cadmium yellow ; 

 naked skin on mental angle and corner of mouth of the same color, but paler; a 

 stripe along the forehead pale brownish yellow ; nail cream colored ; naked eye-ring, 

 dark brownish gray. Feet vivid cadmium yellow ; webs somewhat paler and purer 

 yellow ; nails horny white. Fat. 



The colors changed about an hour after the colored drawing was fin- 

 ished, the white becoming flesh-color. 



This specimen was shot on the same day on Bering Island as the pair 

 of the foregoing species, but in a diflerent part of the island. At least 

 three were seen. It seems to occur regularly during the spring migra- 

 tion, and has already been mentioned by Steller from Bering Island. 

 In 1882 I had the opportunity of examining two specimens shot on Lake 

 Saranna, Bering Island, in April. They were prepared by Mr. Greb- 

 nitski, who had them forwarded to St. Petersburg. The culmen of the 

 male measured 51'""'. 



