Pa | Hersey, Birds at St. Michael, Alaska. 151 
most often taken. A Black-throated species is also found in the 
proportion of perhaps ten percent, but it is a shyer species and less 
frequently obtained. I assumed it to be arctica, as this is the bird 
recorded by Nelson, but the only specimens I secured, two in 
number, proved to be pacifica. The Horned Grebe is rare in the 
region. A single bird only was seen and was secured. Horned 
Puffins breed quite abundantly on Egg Island and a few also nest 
on Whale Island. Among them an occasional Tufted Puffin may 
be noted. Pallas’s Murre also breeds on Egg Island in about the 
same numbers as the Horned Puffin but unlike that species is rarely 
seen in St. Michael Bay. 
The Pomarine Jaeger is seen about the bay for a few days after 
the ice goes out in spring. Usually they are found in pairs but 
none breed there. The Long-tailed and Parasitic Jaegers both 
breed and both are generally rather abundant, but their numbers 
vary somewhat on different days and in different years and I 
believe, from observations, as well as from the condition of speci- 
mens collected, that a part of the birds seen were not breeding. 
The Pacific Kittiwake breeds in large numbers on Egg Island 
and is very common in St. Michael Bay during the entire summer. 
Mr. Nelson states that “none were found near St. Michael’s after 
the migration until toward the end of July or 1st of August,” so 
it is evident that they have either changed their habits or increased 
in abundance since he wrote. When the salmon were running in 
June, and the natives had seines placed at various points along the 
shore, great numbers of Kittiwakes were present and fed upon 
the refuse from cleaning the fish. Even after the fishing was over 
they lingered about the bay and there were few days when speci- 
mens could not have been shot from the dock. As Mr. Nelson does 
not mention the Egg Island breeding colony it is possible that it is 
but recently established and would explain the increase in the 
number of birds of this species now found about the bay. 
Closely resembling the Pacific Kittiwake in life, the Short-billed 
Gull could be easily overlooked while feeding about the bays, but 
during the summer most of them retire to the tundra ponds. They 
are common at all times especially after the young have learned to 
fly. 
Large flocks of Glaucous Gulls, made up largely of birds in imma- 
