73 



thirty breeding-places of this bird, between Romaine and Chateau 

 Beau, at all of which there were Black-backed Gulls in greater or 

 less abundance, but in the whole of this distance found but one spot 

 on which the Black-backed Gulls were breeding by themselves in a 

 greater number than one, or, at most, two pairs. 



As the islands on which these birds breed are all known by the 

 inhabitants, and the eggs and young are both favorite articles of food, 

 they are much harassed by them. At Flat Rock, for instance, where 

 many of these birds breed, on the 26th of July there were from fifty 

 to sbcty young birds, the greater number of which, as well as all the 

 eggs, were carried off, and many of the old birds shot by a party of 

 eight whalers, who landed on the island at the same time with our- 

 selves. Nothing remarkable was observed in their method of build- 

 ing their nests. The eggs are subject to a larger amount of variation 

 in form and color than those of most of the genus ; the large spots 

 found in the Saddle-back are seldom seen. 



Four of them measured as follows : 73 x 44 mill. — 67 x 49 — 55 

 X 48— 78 X 52. 



Alca torda] Linn. This species, though abundant, is probably less 

 numerous than the Foolish Guillemot ; it is, however, much more 

 generally distributed, and breeds on almost all the rocky islands in 

 greater or less numbers, even on those at some distance from the 

 open waters of the Gulf, which the U. troille I believe never does. 



The eggs can generally be easily distinguished from those of the 

 Guillemots, though some of the latter are so similar that I think they 

 could not be determined with positive certainty. Naumann says that 

 they can be distinguished by the spots being always shaded on their 

 edges with reddish-brown. This is not strictly true, and I have seen 

 eggs of the Guillemots in which the spots were similarly shaded. 

 The number of eggs is stated by Audubon to be two ; though I have 

 seen hundreds of them, I never found more than one laid by the same 

 bird, and in no instance anything like a nest. The greatest number 

 found breeding at any one place, was on an island called Tete de 

 Baleine, near the Fox Islands. From the eggs being generally de- 

 posited in cracks and fissures, or under projecting masses of rock, 

 they are more difficult to be obtained, and consequently the birds are 

 not so much disturbed as the Guillemots. In the ninth volume of the 

 Pacific R. R. Survey, it is stated that the white line from the nostril 

 to the eye is never absent in this bird in any state of plumage. 

 Naumann says, on the contrary, that in the first plumage it is nearly 

 impossible to distinguish it from the young U. arra. I have a fine 

 adult specimen in winter plumage, and also a young bii'd of the year, 

 without a trace of the white line. 



Four eggs measured as follows : 71 x 43^ mill. — 75^ x 49 — 83^ 

 x47i^ — 80^ x49. 



