54 BULLETIN 113, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Kumlien (1879) found the glaucous gull breeding abundantly in 

 the Cumberland Sound region. He describes one nesting site as " an 

 enormous cliff about 1| miles in length and over 2,000 feet in height, 

 and nearly perpendicular. This cliff is about 4 miles from the sea- 

 shore to the east-northeast of America Harbor. Many hundreds 

 of nests are scattered about on the little projecting shelves of rock, 

 and the birds sitting on them look like little bunches of snow still 

 unmelted on the cliff. The ascent to this locality is very laborious; 

 but the marvelous beauty of the place will well repay any future 

 explorer to visit it, for the plants that grow in such rich profusion 

 at the base of the cliff, if nothing more." He also says : 



I have examined some nests that were built on tlie duck islands, always on 

 the highest eminence. The structure seemed to have been used and added to 

 for many years in succession, probably by the same pair. In shape they were 

 pyramid-formed mounds, over 4 feet at the base and about 1 foot at the top, 

 and nearly 2^ feet in height. They were composed of every conceivable object 

 found in the vicinity, grass, seaweed, moss, lichens, feathers, bones, skin, egg 

 shells, etc. 



Regarding the breeding habits of this species in Greenland, Mr. 

 J. D. Figgins writes me that on Saunders Island : 



The nest is composed of moss and grass, often of considerable height because 

 of the yearly repair, always near the top of the cliffs and never approachable 

 from below. The nests are rarely placed other than near rookeries of murres 

 and other gulls, where the glaucous gulls prey upon the eggs and young. When 

 the gulls make forays upon the murre and kittiwake rookeries, the latter birds 

 make no defense whatever and, besides uttering their usual querulous com- 

 plaints, offer no resistance, seemingly knowing that it is quite useless. The 

 glaucous gulls prefer small young, which their advanced young gulp whole. 

 Young in various stages of growth, from newly hatched to those ready to leave 

 the nests, were found abundantly on August 15. No eggs were seen at that time. 

 Both adults were invariably nearby, screaming protest when the nest was 

 approached and following the intruder for considerable distance when leaving. 



On the Arctic coast of Mackenzie, Macfarlane (1908) found some 

 20 nests of this species on sandy islets in the bays and rivers : 



The nest was usually a shallow depression in the beach, while in one of them 

 we discovered an egg of the black brant which was being incubated by a bird 

 of this species. 



Nelson (1887) describes two nests found by him on the Yukon 

 delta, as follows : 



On June 4 their first nest was found. It was placed on a small islet, a few 

 feet across, in the center of a broad shallow pond. The structure was formed 

 of a mass of moss and grass piled up a foot or more high, with a base 3 feet 

 across and with a deep central depression lined with dry grass. There was a 

 single egg. The female, as she sat on the nest, was visible a mile away, and 

 not the slightest opportunity was afforded for concealment on the broad sur- 

 rounding flat. 



