away in full flight, pursued for a time by the victor. He quickly re¬ 
turns, however, and springing into the air from the original knoll 
again sends out his cry of defiance to all comers. During the last 
half of May along the coast of Bering Sea these ptarmigan are notice¬ 
able everywhere, and the air is filled with their loud insistent notes. 
A little later, when the mating is over and the females are hidden 
away on nests, the males completely lose their boisterous pugnacity, 
and are almost as quiet and inconspicuous as their mates. 
Additional Notes by the Editor 
A few explanatory notes, largely derived from Mr. Nelson’s valu¬ 
able and interesting Report, may be added to the foregoing lively ac¬ 
count of the bird-life of the Alaskan tundras. 
The loons of this district are of five dififerent species, namely, 
the widely distributed “common loon,” or great northern diver; the 
yellow-billed; the black-throated; the Pacific; and the red-throated 
loon. They are distinguished chiefly by their varying colors about 
the head and neck. In the common loon the black head and neck are 
in summer deep black, crossed on the throat by a bar or by transverse 
streaks of white; in the Pacific species the top of the head and the 
hind neck are pale, smoky gray, the throat and fore neck glossed with 
bronzy green or purple; in the black-throated loon the head and 
neck are deep leaden gray above, and are glossed beneath with velvety 
purple; and in the red-throated the fore neck in summer is rich chest¬ 
nut in color. This last is the smallest of the lot. The largest of the 
loons is the yellow-billed, whose head and neck are glossed with 
violet-blue. The habits, nests, and eggs of all are similar. The eggs 
number two, and are of an elongated oval form, deep brown or olive 
in tint, and sparsely speckled. 
The black guillemot mentioned is a circumpolar species belong¬ 
ing to the Arctic sea-front and islands, and rarely seen south of 
Kotzebue Sound. 
The jsegers, or skuas, as they are more often termed in the North- 
Atlantic region, are wide-wandering oceanic gulls of predatory habits, 
that get their living mainly by robbing their smaller brethren. They 
are large, and exceedingly swift and powerful on the wing. The 
Eskimos attribute to the parasitic jaeger remarkable prowess, and call 
it “the cannibal” because, as they say, it formerly captured and ate 
men. This jaeger is far more agile and bold than the pomarine, which 
it will drive from its neighborhood; but it is not so graceful in flight 
as the long-tailed one. They harry the gulls and terns to make them 
disgorge fish just caught, and then swoop down beneath the falling 
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