8 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 56 



RISSA BREVIROSTRIS 



Red-legged Kittiwake 



As we passed Akntan Island we saw a large number of Kittiwakes 

 hovering about the rocky cliffs, which were probably this species, 

 though we could not stop and did not go near enough to identify them. 

 They are listed as breeding on this island. We did not have time to 

 visit their other known breeding grounds. 



LARUS HYPERBOREUS 



Glaucous Gull 



Among the large numbers of Glaucous-winged Gulls seen every- 

 where, there were undoubtedly a few of this species, perhaps many 

 of them. It was almost impossible to distinguish the slight difference 

 in the wing markings in life and we shot very few gulls for lack of 

 time to prepare them. A few were seen and one was taken at 

 Unalaska. 



LARUS GLAUCESCENS 

 Glaucous-winged Gull 



This was the common gull seen on or about all of the islands we 

 visited. They were particularly abundant in the harbor at Unalaska 

 and Dutch Harbor, where they were constantly flocking about the 

 ships to feed on garbage thrown overboard. They were common all 

 the way up the coast from Seattle and in the passes, but seldom seen 

 out of sight of land. I saw a large number of them on the high 

 upland tundra above the cliffs on Kiska Island, where they acted as 

 if they were breeding, but I did not find any nests there. The only 

 breeding colony we found was on Bogoslof Island where there were 

 between one and two hundred nests widely scattered over the flat 

 sandy portions of the island. The nests were well made of kelp and 

 seaweed, decorated with feathers and fish bones. At the time of our 

 visit on July 4, most of the young had hatched and were running 

 about, some nests still contained young or pipped eggs and several 

 held sets of two or three blowable eggs. Wherever these gulls were 

 seen we found numerous shells of sea urchins, far from the water, 

 where the gulls had dropped and broken them to feed on them. 



LARUS BRACHYRHYNCHUS 



Short-billed Gull 



Young birds of this species were common about Ketchikan where 

 we collected a small series. We saw a few adults in Kiska Harbor 

 but did not find their breeding grounds. 



