ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 219 



laying so earlj^ as the Isi of June, is the only rival that the cornioram- 

 has with reference to early incubation. It never flies in flocks. It 

 pairs early, and is then exceedingly quiet. I have never heard it 

 utter a sound, save a low, droning croak when disgorging food for its 

 young. The chick conies out a i:>erfect puff hall of white down, and 

 o-ains'^its first plumage in about six weeks. It is a dull gray black at 

 first, but by the end of the season it becomes like the parents in 

 coloration, only much darker on the back and scapularies. They are 

 the least edible, witli the exception of the cormorant, of all bird food 

 found about the islands; and, like others of their family, they vomit 

 up the putrid contents of their stomachs at the slightest provocation. 



26. Stercorarius pomatorhinus. Pomarine Jager; ■' Raz-boi-nik." 



This bird is a rare visitor, and is the only specimen which I pro- 

 cured, and was the sole representative seen on the islands of its class. 

 I found it perched in a listless attitude on the high mossy uplands 

 between Kamminista and Polavina Sopka. 



27. Stercorarius parasiticus. Parasitic Jager. 



I have seen but a few of these birds, also. The four or five examples 

 of this species in my collection were all that I sighted; therefore it 

 may be rated as an infrequent visitor. It seems to be tired out, and 

 is found upon the grassy uplands, where it will alight and stand doz- 

 ing in an indolent attitude for hours. The natives say that it is fond 

 of the berries of the Empetrum, and in confirmation of their state- 

 ment I found the half-digested remains of this fruit therein. No one 

 of the three species of Stercorarius which I have in my hands was 

 observed to breed here. 



28. Stercorarius Buffoni. Long-tailed Jager. 



Also seldom seen, and the specimen in my collection is one of the 

 only two I ever observed on the islands. When I discovered them, 

 July 29, 1872, they were apparently feeding upon insects and the 

 fruit of the Empetnnn. nigrmn. 



29. Larus glaucus. Burgomaster: "Chikie." 



This large, handsome gull, the finest of its race, is restricted in its 

 breeding to Walrus Islet alone, although it comes sailing over and 

 around all the islands, in easy, graceful flight, every hour of the day, 

 and frequently late in the fall will settle down by hundreds upon the 

 carcasses of the killing-grounds. But at Walrus Islet this bird is at 

 home, and here lays its eggs in neat nests built of sea-ferns and dry 

 grass, placed among the turfy tussocks on the center of the islet. No 

 foxes are found there. It remains by the Pribilof Islands during the 

 whole season. Though it is sometimes driven by the ice in search of 

 open water, 50 to 100 miles south, it invariably returns soon after the 

 floe disappears. 



The "chikie " lays as early as the 1st to the 4th of June, depositing 

 three eggs only, within a week or ten days. These eggs are large, 



over the brow of the cliff on it. A gaunt fox, which had been watching the pro- 

 ceedings, now ran iip and fell to gnawing the rope, so taut and tense with the 

 weight of the suspended egg hunter below. The sharp teeth of Reynard, under the 

 circumstances instantly severed it, and the unfortunate native was dashed to the 

 rocky shingle some 400 feet below, where his lifeless body was soon discovered. 

 The poor fellow lost his life by having, at some earlier hour of the day, rubbed his 

 yolk-smeared hands upon the sinewy strands, for at that place only did the hungry 

 fox attack them. 



