I'O NATURAL HISTORY OF ARCTIC AMERICA. 



earlier than the leiiiales and yoimg. Durinj^ the autiiimi of 1877 we 

 l)i()(ui('(l about seventy of tliese birds; but not u single adult male was 

 shot or even seen. They were met with in large Hocks at sea oil" the 

 outer islands on the east coast of Uall's Land; here I also remarked 

 that they seemed to be all males. As soon as there is any open water 

 they are found in sjuing; still they were not common at Annanactook 

 till the latter days of .May. Eskimos IVom the south reported them on 

 the Hoe edge near ]S'iantiIic early in 31ay, and 1 saw a few on an iceberg 

 near the Middliejuacktwack Islands on the 30th of April. They can 

 stand almost any temperature if they can lind open water. I saw one 

 adult male in the tide rifts of the Greater Kingwah in January. The 

 day I saw him it was — 50° F. ; but he proved too lively for me. The 

 ]Cskimo could have prociu'ed him on different occasions; but they had 

 some sui^erstitious notion regarding so unusual an occuirence, and 

 would not kill it. 



In the fall of 1877 1 often found broods still unable to lly, though 

 more than three-fourths grown, as late as the middle of October. Snuill 

 Hocks continued about the open tide-holes till November 17. At this 

 date I killed six young males; the temperature was — 7° Fah. They 

 had at this time about fifty miles to the open water. 



Their food in autumn consists almost entirely of mollusks. I have 

 taken sliells from the cesophagus more than two inches in lengtli; from 

 a single bird I have taken out forty-three shells, vaiying from one- 

 sixteenth to two inches in length. The adult birds in spring did not 

 seem to be quite so jKirticular; in them I found almost all the common 

 forms of marine invertebrates, and sometimes even a few fish {Liparis, 

 and the young of Coitus .scorpius). 



I5y the first week of ,lnne they were abun<lant: enormous lloeks would 

 congregate on an ice ti«'ld and liold high carnival. 1 liave watched such 

 gatherings witli a great deal of interest. When thus assembled, sonu* 

 olil \('teran would make liiinself eonsi)icuous, and jabber away at a ter- 

 iil)h' rate, often silencing the great»'r i)ortion of the rest, who appeared 

 lo listen for a short time, when the entire crowd would break out, each 

 <»ne aj)i»arent]y expressing his or liei- opinion on the vsubject. There 

 always seemed to be the best of good feeling in those meetings, how- 

 evei-. and all points were ai»i)arently settleil to every one's satisfaction. 

 1 ha\c often lain behintl a rock on their breeding-islands and watched 

 lliem lor a long time. On one occasion we disturbed a large colony, and 

 the dneks all left the nests. I sent m> f^skimos away to another island, 



