CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 47 
XXIV. KEMA Leacu. 1819 
62. Sabine’s Gull. Fork-tailed Gull. 
Xema sabinit (Sas.) LEACH. I8I9g. 
Said not to breed further south in Greenland than Lat. 75° 30’ 
N. ; also common at Sabine Island, Melville Bay, Lat. 75° 30’ 
N. (Arct. Man.) Occasional as far south along the Labrador 
coast as Cow Head, Newfoundland. (Reeks.) 
Quite a large number of nests were found on the shores of 
Franklin Bay, anda few eggs were also received from the Esqui- 
mo of Liverpool Bay onthe Arctic coast. (Wacfarlane.) Breed- 
ing on low islands off the west coast of Greenland and westward 
to Melville Peninsula. (Richardson.) Found breeding abundantly 
in the low grounds between St. Michael and Bristol Bay, Alaska. 
(Turner.) This gull is especially numerous along the Alaskan 
coast from the Kuskoquim mouth to Kotzebue Sound, and occurs 
in small numbers at St. Lawrence Island. (JVe/son.) 
BREEDING Notes.—On June 13th, 1880, about twenty miles 
from St. Michael while egging in company with some Eskimo, 
we found a pondsome 200 yards across, in the middle of which 
were two small islands. A gun-shot caused at least one hundred 
of these gulls to rise like a white cloud over the islet and showed 
us that we had found a breeding place. On going to the largest 
island my Eskimo called out that the ground was covered 
with gull’s eggs. The Eskimo found the water waist deep and 
under it a solid bed of ice of unknown depth. He carried me 
over on his back, as I desired to see the nests of these birds, 
never having seen them. The island was very low, and the 
driest spots were but a little above the water. Built on the 
driest places were twenty-seven nests, containing from one to 
three eggs each, and as many others ready for occupancy. Four 
or five nests were frequently placed within two or three feet of 
each other. In about one half the cases the eggs were laid 
upon the few grass-blades the spot afforded, with no alterations 
save a slight depression made by the bird’s body. In the 
majority of the other nests a few grass-blades and stems had been 
arranged circularly about the eggs, and in the remainder only 
enough material had been added to afford the merest apology 
fora nest. (Welson.) 
