LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULI^ AND TERNS. 53 



Grinnell (1900) noted their arrival in Kotzebue Sound May 11, 

 1899, when he " discovered 10 sitting close together out in the middle 

 of the river ice." Winter was still unbroken at this date, and there 

 was no open water in the vicinity " so far as he knew." 



Nesting. — The southernmost breeding grounds of this species are 

 in Newfoundland. Here in the summer of 1912 I saw them at sev- 

 eral pia(;es, where they were probably nesting on the high and 

 inaccessible rocky cliffs of the west coast. Other observers have also 

 reported them from this region. Mr. J. R. Whitaker. of Grand Lake, 

 told me that he had taken the eggs of this species on an island in 

 Sanch^ Lake. While investigating a breeding colony of great black- 

 backed gulls on an island in Sandj- Lake, on June 23, 1912, I saw a 

 pair of glaucous gulls flying overhead. The young of all the gulls 

 had hatched at that date and were hidden among the rocks and under- 

 brush, so I did not succeed in identifying any young of the glaucous 

 gull, but I have no reason to doubt that the pair had nested there, 

 perhaps on one of the small rocky islets by themselves. Mr. Edward 

 Arnold (1912) reports that " several pairs had their nests built out 

 on large bowlders in the center of ponds, but as the water was very 

 cold and over our heads in depth we could not examine them." 



On the Labrador coast in 1912 I found the glaucous gull common 

 all along the coast from the Straits of Belie Isle northward. I saw 

 a large breeding colony on the lofty cliffs of the Kigla-pait range 

 between Nain and Okak. The nests were quite inaccessible on the 

 narrow ledges of precipitous cliffs facing the sea. On August 2 we 

 visited a breeding colony of 30 or 40 pairs of glaucous gulls on a 

 rocky islet near Nain. It was a precipitous crag, rising abruptly 

 from the sea to a height of 100 or 150 feet, unapproachable in rough 

 weather, and an invulnerable castle except at one point, where we 

 could land on a rock and climb up a steep grassy slope. Numerous 

 black guillemots flew out from the lower crevices, and my companion, 

 Mr. Donald B. MacMillan, succeeded in finding a few of their eggs 

 still fairly fresh. Rev. Walter W. Perrett, of Nain, had taken a set 

 of duck haAvk's eggs from the cliffs earlier in the season. The upper 

 part of the rock was occupied by the gulls, where their nests were 

 mostly on inaccessible ledges. Near the top of the rock, which was 

 flat and covered with grass, we found quite a number of nests that we 

 could reach, but all of these were empty. Below us we could see nests 

 containing young of various ages and one nest still held two eggs. 

 Some of the young were nearly ready to fly and proba^bly some had 

 already flown. The nests were made of soft grasses and mosses, and 

 were not very elaborate or very bull^ for such large gulls ; probably 

 they had been somewhat trampled down by the young. 



