Vol. xxxiin 



1916 



J Dixon, Migration of the Yellow-billed Loon. olo 



It seems probable that in southeastern Alaska the Yellow-billed 

 Loon is rather more than a mere straggler, as would be inferred 

 from Cooke's (loo. cit) mention of the Admiralty Island occurrence. 

 While possibly his statement regarding this record may be con- 

 sidered as technically correct in viewing the May 25 observation 

 as the only one strictly a spring record, still the capture of two 

 specimens on Admiralty Island in May and August, 1911, re- 

 spectively, and the sight of three others in the same general region 

 during June of the same year, together with still others observed 

 during June and November, 1910 (Swarth, Tondor, vol. 13, 1911, 

 p. 211) all tend to establish the fact that the coast of southeastern 

 Alaska lies in the Yellow-billed Loon's regular line of travel. 

 From personal experience with an individual apparently of this 

 species, at Admiralty Island in the spring of 1907 (see Grinnell, 

 Univ. Calif. Publ. Zool., vol. 5, 1909, p. 182), the writer believes 

 that the species might occur there more regularly than is supposed, 

 and still be overlooked. 



In connection with the general problem of the migration of this 

 species it is, perhaps, desirable to record here a specimen in the 

 collection of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (no. 16694), an 

 adult male, taken by F. Kleinschmidt at Teller (Port Clarence), 

 Alaska, July 6, 1907. 



The points brought out by our observations on the Yellow-billed 

 Loon may be summarized as follows. 



1. Corroboration in general of the spring migration route out- 

 lined tentatively by Cooke: From eastern Asia to Bering Strait, 

 to Point Barrow, and to the Mackenzie River delta. The parts 

 of skins seen in possession of natives at Point Hope and Cape 

 Lisburne, Alaska (two hundred miles north of Bering Strait), 

 and the himdreds of birds seen migrating eastward at Humphrey 

 Point, Alaska (between Point Barrow and the Mackenzie River), 

 in June and July, form supporting evidence. 



2. Improbability that the species breeds on the Arctic coast of 

 Alaska and Canada, which coast it traverses in migration. Collec- 

 tion and dissection of numerous specimens, and careful observation 

 of living birds, are sufficient basis for this statement. Circum- 

 stances, as previously detailed, cast doubt in the writer's mind on 

 most, or all, of the breeding records so far made from this region. 



