110 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWEST IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 



Siberian coast. As noted by tlie iiatiiiiiiist of tlie Jeannette, who saw several of these birds at 

 Saint Lawrence Bay the hist of August, 1879, it is very irregular in its distribution, as the coast 

 for a hundred miles may not have a singh> i>air, and again they may occur in the greatest abun- 

 dance. Rather low rocky islets ai)pear to be their choice for breeding places, as shown by their 

 habits in the vicinity of Saint Michael's, where they nest among the low vegetation covering the 

 rocks, making no artificial nest, or but a slight attempt at one, usually de])ositing their eggs in a 

 slight hollow made in tiie dead grasses and moss. The nests were ditilcult to tiiid from the close 

 resemblance of tlie eggs to the grouiul upon which they are placed. The birds hover overliead 

 whiMi disturbed, but become very shy after a little persecution iti tiie way of shooting, so tliat 

 although 1 made re[)eated ertbrts to secnie a considerable number of specimens I was able to get 

 but comparatively few. They are far uu)re suspicious tiiau tiie Arctic Tern, which abound in the 

 same localities and may be kilh-d by liundreds if desired. 



STERCORARIUS POMATORHINUS (Temm. ) Vieill. 



(KJl.) PoMABiNE Jaeger. 



During the summer season these birds are found breeding around the northern coast of Bering 

 Sea from the vicinity of the mouth of Kuskocpiim River to Bering Strait, and among the northern 

 islands of this sea, and along tlie Siberian shore. Tiiey extend their range at this rime through 

 the Straits, and are found scattered over the entire part of the Arctic navigable for vessels, breeding 

 upon both shores. During this season they reach south to the Aleutian chain, and it is possible 

 that some remain there to breed; but as these birds have a northerly distribution in summer the 

 probabilities are agaiust the supposition. A few were seen at Plover Bay and then scatteringly 

 throughout the Arctic, generally near shore, during the cruise of the Corwin. They were more 

 numerous on tlie Asiatic coast than on tlu; American side, except when we reached the vicinity 

 of Point Barrow, where a consideriil)le number of these birds were seen among the drift ice. 

 On June U'J they were very numeroLis otf Cape Serdze K;imen, on the Siberian shore. About 

 Nova Zemlya, Nordenskiokl informs us, this species is much less numerous than the parasitic 

 Jaeger; hut like this latter species the present bird has a^ cinaimpolar distribution. As we 

 approached Herald and \\'rangel Islands on onr viu'ious \isits to that vicinity these Gulls were 

 seen at times, and wen- very numerous ueau. Herald Island the day we made our landing there, 

 July 3(). 



STERCORARIUS CREPIDATUS (Banks) Vieill. 



(162.) Richardson's Jaeger. 



On the coast of Bering Sea, having tliere. almost precisely the same range as the large 

 Jaeger just mentioned, this bird is found in about equal numbers. It is confined to the vicinity 

 of the shore more closely than the large species, and during the breeding season, at least, prefers 

 the brackish pools anil marshy laud along the low portions of the (!Oast, such as that -from the 

 Yukon mouth north along the .jliore of Norton Souud. It was seen at nearly all the jioints visited 

 by us both in Bering Sea and the adjoining portions of the Arctic. As we passed north to tlie 

 vicinity of the ice it became much-rarer or was entirely absent; none were seen in the vicinity of 

 Wrangel or Herahl Islands, nor were any noted north of Icy Cape on the Alaskan shore, although 

 they probably reach Point Barrow at times. This bird is said to breed on Spitzbergen and 

 Nova Zemlya, where it lays two eggs upon the bare ground on low, unsheltered, and often wet 

 islets or headlands. It is very greedy, and in its haste will frei|nently swallow so much as to be 

 .sometimes unable to tly until it has disgorged. 



According to Nordenskiiild, when it is disturbed in the vicinity of its nests it creeps along 

 the ground with odd motions and llai>ping wings to draw attention from its eggs. This same 

 habit is possessed by the birds on the Alaskan shore, as I have IVeciuently observed during the 

 breeding season. 



