LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 191 



Bay), but the record is open to some doubt. Taken in summer, and 

 perhaps was breeding near Spitzbergen (S2'' N.). Franz Josef Land 

 (Hvidtenhmd) near the Bennett Islands, near Wrangel Ishmd, in 

 northeastern Siberia (Pitlekaj), and on jVIelville Peninsuhi (Alag- 

 nak). 



WInfe?' range. — Unknown. Taken at Bering Ishmd, December 10; 

 Heligohind, February 5; Faroe Ishmds, February 1; France (coast 

 of Verdee), December 22; and Italy (Sardinian Sea), January. n / 



SpniKj migration. — Taken in the Pribilof Islands (St. George). 

 Ma}" 25, probably a straggler. 



Fall migration. — Birds leave their breeding grounds in northeast- 

 ern Siberia about July 20 and are abundant at Point Barrow, iiying 

 east, between September 10 and October 9. Taken at St. Michael, 

 Alaska, October 10; at Heligoland, October 25 to November 10; and 

 at Xew Siberia Islands in September. 



Casual records. — Accidental in England (Yorkshire), in France 

 (Verdee. December 22, 1913). and in Italy (Cagliari Bay. January, '" 

 1906). 



Egg dates. — Kolyma Delta: Three records, June 9, 10, and 11. 



XEMA SABINI (J. Sabine). 

 SABINE'S GULL. 



HABITS. 



This beautiful little gull was named for its discoverer, Capt. 

 Edward Sabine, who first saw it on its breeding grounds on some 

 low rocky islands off the west coast of Greenland, where it was 

 associated and breeding with a number of Arctic terns. It is not an 

 abundant bird, however, on the Greenland coast, but it has been 

 found breeding at widely scattered points in the Arctic regions of 

 both hemispheres. Its center of abimdance during the breeding 

 season seems to be in the vicinity of Bering Sea. Dr. E. W. Nelson 

 (1887) says: 



All the marshy coast districts on l)oth shores of Bering Soa are chosen resorts 

 for this beautiful jiuH tluriii;; the hrePflin^ season. It is especially numerous 

 alonfj the Alaskan coast from the Kuskoquim mouth to Kotzehue Sound and 

 on the Sil)erian side from Plover Bay to heyond the Straits, hut they occur 

 more as hirds of passage alonjr the latter coast than ns sunnner residents. 



In the vicinity of St. Micliael he 



found these birds to he anionj; the most numerou.«» of tlie gulls, and the main 

 body of arrivals came in the spring, as the ponds and small tide creeks were 

 nearly free from snow and ioe, dating from the lotli to 2r)th of May. .\t this 

 season they wander in company witli the Arctic tern, but the last of May 

 or 1st of .lune tliey congregate about tlie r»;ii"ts of tlie Tiiarshes selected for their 

 nesting ground. 



