670 LARID^. 



of May. Considerable flocks are annually observed on tbe 

 coast of Norway in autumn and as late as June, but Mr. 

 CoUett has recently informed tbe Editor, tbat there is as yet 

 no evidence of its having bred in any part of Scandinavia. 

 In Spitsbergen it has seldom been identified, but the Rev. A. 

 E. Eaton obtained it therein August ; and on Parry's fourth 

 voyage a bird of this species was observed by Ross flying past 

 the boats in 82° N. lat. On Novaya Zemlya and the neigh- 

 bouring coasts and islands it is common ; Dr. 0. Finsch 

 observed it near the mouth of the Ob ; and it doubtless 

 occurs along the entire Arctic shores of Siberia, as Von 

 Middendorff" found it nesting in abundance on the tundras 

 of the Taimyr in 74° N. lat. The ' Vega ' expedition ob- 

 tained it at Jinretlen in June, 1879, and from the description 

 given by Pallas it is evident that it occurs in Kamtschatka. 

 Mr. Nelson states (Cruise of the ' Corwin,' p. 13 0) that it 

 breeds on both sides of Bering Sea, and considerable num- 

 bers were seen off" Point Barrow. Bernard Ross observed it 

 at the mouth of the Mackenzie River, and its range appears 

 to extend along the greater part of the Arctic coast of 

 America, although it was not observed in Smith Sound by 

 Major Feilden. Sir James C. Ross mentions, in his last 

 Appendix, that a nest with two eggs was found near 

 Fury Point, on the margin of a small lake. Richardson 

 says that it "is not uncommon in the northern outlets 

 of Hudson's Bay, where it subsists on putrid flesh and 

 other animal substances thrown up by the sea, and also on 

 the matters which the Gulls disgorge when pursued by it. 

 It retires from the north in the winter, and makes its first 

 appearance at Hudson's Bay in May, coming in from sea- 

 ward. The Indians abhor it, considering it to be a companion 

 of the Esquimaux, and to partake of their evil qualities." 



In Greenland it is said to breed in societies from Bjornenaes, 

 north of Egedesminde, to the northward (Newton, B. of 

 Greenland) ; and Mr. Ludwig Kumlien states (Bull. U.S. 

 Nat. Mus. No. 15, p. 94) that many hundred pairs were 

 nesting on an inaccessible cliff" on Disco Island ; but this 

 assertion, like that of his reported discovery of the eggs of 



