SABINE S GULL. 43 



Commander Macfarlane in swarms as far south as Callao Bay, 

 in Peru. It has not yet been recorded from Novaya Zemlya 

 or Franz-Josef Land, and, according to Mr. Howard Saunders, 

 it is very rare or local in Spitsbergen, while it is believed to be 

 merely a visitor to Jan Mayen. 



Habits. — Mr. E. W. Nelson has given an interesting account 

 of this Gull as observed by him in Alaska. He writes : — " My 

 acquaintance with this bird began on my first excursion near 

 Saint Michael's, on June 26, 1877. We were caught by a head- 

 tide at the mouth of the ' canal,' some fifteen miles from the 

 fort and tied up to the bank to await the change. We stopped 

 soon after midnight, and taking my gun I strolled off across 

 the marshes in the soft twilight. For some time only the 

 hoarse cries of distant Loons, or the rolling note of a Crane 

 broke the silence. The whole scene was desolate in the 

 extreme ; not a living thing could be seen, and the bleaching 

 fragments of drift-wood scattered among the numberless ponds 

 were all that the wide extent of level marsh presented. About 

 1.30 a.m. the sky became brighter, and the rich tones of the 

 Swans, mellowed by the distance to a harmonious cadence, 

 came from the larger lakes, while various other inhabitants of 

 the marsh from time to time added their voices to the chorus. 

 In a few minutes a long straggling train of small Gulls was 

 seen passing over the ponds in silent procession. Approaching 

 them, they were found to be busily engaged in feeding on the 

 small fishes and various small larv^ found in these pools. Their 

 motions and appearance were much like those of Bonaparte's 

 Gull, when seen at distance, but they rarely plunged into the 

 water like the latter, as the Xemas have the habit of hovering 

 gracefully close over the water to pick up a morsel, or of 

 alighting for an instant in the water and rising again on the 

 wing so lightly that scarcely a ripple is made on the surface. 

 Ten or a dozen beautiful specimens were shot without difficulty 

 as the birds flew about. Their food throughout the season 

 consists of sticklebacks at times, but mainly of such small larv3e 

 and crustaceans as occur in brackish ponds. As August draws 

 to a close, young and old forsake the marshes to a great extent, 

 and for the rest of the season are found scattered along the 

 coast, feeding at the water-line on the beaches. 



