72 



Straits of Belle Isle. At Romalne the eggs were but just laid on the 

 26th of June. 



Puffitms ? Shear-waters were very numerous in the Straits, 



^nd as at that time they must have been feeding their young, their 

 breeding-places were probably at no very great distance. Owing to 

 the stormy weather I was unable to procure a specimen so as to 

 identify the species, and did not succeed in finding their breeding- 

 place. None of the inhabitants, questioned by me, had ever found 

 the egg or knew anything about their breeding-places. 



Lestris arcticus. Also very abundant in the Straits, but not found 

 breeding. 



Larus marinus, Linn. This beautiful and powerful Gull we found 

 breeding on almost all the grassy islands North of Romaine, in greater 

 abundance as we approached the Straits. I saw nothing in its habits 

 not already well known. I am sure, however, that it has been repre- 

 sented as much more rapacious and tyrannical than it deserves to be. 

 On Greenlet Island, which I have already mentioned as the abode of 

 great numbers of Eider Ducks, I found twenty-two nests of this bird, 

 among the number one not a foot from the nest of an Eider, both 

 containing eggs. I did not see a single egg-shell or any appearance 

 of any eggs having been destroyed by the Gulls. On all the islands 

 where the Herring Gulls breed, this species is found in greater or less 

 numbers, apparently on as good terms with them as with its own 

 species. I saw no peculiarity in its flight, and have often watched one 

 for some time to ascertain what species it belonged to, before a good 

 look of his black back betrayed it. 



The nest is much oftener placed on the bare* rock than that of the 

 following species, and is not unfrequently found singly on some small 

 rocky island, which the other never is. The eggs are three in num- 

 ber, and are generally easily distinguished from those of the Herring 

 Gull by the color as weU as size. The spots are generally fewer in 

 number and much larger, and this is almost a specific character. 



The dimensions of four were as follows : 81 x 50 mill. — G9 x 51^ 

 _70x 57—69^ x57. 



Larus argentatus, Briinn. This bird was not found by Audubon 

 breeding anywhere on the coast of Labrador. I can hardly attempt 

 to account for this. It is difficult to believe that a bird, now one of the 

 most abundant on the coast, breeding on nearly all the grassy islands, 

 and which the inhabitants state to have ahvays been abundant, could 

 have been overlooked by Audubon ; still, this is the most probable 

 supposition, and he mentions, as a fact, something that would seem to 

 favor this view, namely, that the Black-backed Gulls change their 

 plumage so as to resemble large Herring Gulls.* I visited probably 



*''Tliemost remarkable circumstance relative to these birds is that they either 

 associate with another species, j^iving rise to a hybrid brood, or that when very old 

 they lose the dark color of the back, wliicli is then of the same tint as that of the 

 Larus ari^entatus, or even li^jhter." Aud. Birds of America, 8vo. vol. 7, p. 178. 



