84 NATURAL HISTORY OK ARCTIC AMERICA. 



robust foiiii, in lia\ iiij,^ u \vliite patcli above and behind the eye, and 

 iinich \vider pectoral band; it will also be tbund that only the outer and 

 middle toes are united by a web. 



30. Strepsilas iuterpres, (L.) 111. 



" Tolliy vak," Cireoiilautlcrs. 

 Common about Disko Bay, Greenland, and northward to T.P X. lat. 

 at least. Breeds on the Green, Hunde, and Whale Islands in Disko 

 Bay. They nest amonj:^ the Sterna arctica, and it is impossible to dis- 

 tin<^uish between tlie eggs of the two species. Kot observed in Cum- 

 berland Sound, nor on the east coast of the Penny Peninsula; still, the 

 bird was instantly recognized by the Cumberland Eskimo, when they 

 saw it on the Greenland coast, and they had the same name for it as the 

 (ircenlanders. 



31. Recurvirostris americaua, Gm. 



I enter this bird on my list on Eskimo authority, — poor aut!u>rity, it 

 is true, but I have in my possession a drawing, made by a wild Eskimo, 

 that is so unmistakably this bird that I do not hesitate to accept it, 

 especially when he gave me a perfect description, and that without any 

 attempt on my part to draw him out. He says he saw them for the fiist 

 t-iine in the sunnner of 1S77, wiiMe reindeer hunting, south of Lake 

 Kennedy. 



32. Lobipes hyperboreus, (L.) Cuv. 



"Sliatgak," Cuiiili<'rlaii(l E.skimo. 



Arrives in Cumberland in ,lnne. Large flocks were repeatedly seen 

 going to and coming from their breeding-grounds in KLingwah Fjord. Xot 

 nearly so common in Cumberland as the following s})ecies. The remarks 

 on the habits of 1*. ftilicarius as observed by me will apply to tliis s]te- 

 cies only in part. I have seen them as far south and farther north, and 

 nearly as far from lantl, as tli(> following s])e('ies, but only a fi'W indi- 

 viduals. They seem to prefer the shore more, are often noticed running 

 about on the ice-cakes, and when they see anything in tlie water they 

 want jiuiip in after it. Bree<l plentifidly on the islands in Disko Bay 

 and a rum 1(1 I'pernax ik ; on these islands they nest among Stmia iiKtcruvd., 

 (»n the rocks; in Cumberland, around fresh-water jxnids, on grassy 

 banks. Tlu'y are api)areutly less gregarious than P. fttlicoriits, and 

 prefer the smaller bays to the more open and boisterous wat(>rs. I have 

 oftiMi seen a whole Hock alight on the drift-ice and fee<l by jnni]>ing into 

 the water alter tiie food when seen; but fnlicarius would have lit in the 

 water in the tirst ])lace. Eggs wcm'c i)rocured on the Green Islands in 

 Disko Ba\ . 



