FUR SEALS AND OTHER LIFE, PRIBILOF ISLANDS, 1914. 1 23 



breeding in separate colonies, and are about equally abundant. The Glaucous-winged 

 gull nests mainlv or entirely on Walrus Island and Sea Lion Rock, but resorts to St. Paul 

 Island in numbers throughout the summer. It is seldom seen on St. George Island at 

 that season. The eggs are sometimes utilized, and during the colder part of the year 

 the birds are shot for food. 



The Kittiwakes are especially relished as food by the natives, and numbers are shot 

 in early autumn as they fly along certain parts of the cliffs or cross from bay to bay 

 over low portions of the islands. Their eggs are small and so difficult to secure that the 

 birds suffer practically no loss in this respect. The continued abundance of the birds 

 seems to be good evidence that the shooting of a few for food has had no serious effect. 



AUKLETS. 



Of the three species of auklets occurring in numbers on the Pribilof Islands, the 

 only one of economic importance is the Least Auklet {Aethia pusilla). This bird is 

 scarcely larger than a robin, but exists in such myriads and is so easy to capture that 

 it is of considerable value as food, and its arrival in April is eagerly awaited. The birds 

 occur commonly on St. Paul, nesting mainly among the bowlders on the beaches, while 

 on St. George the numbers are so great as to be almost incredible. On the latter island 

 fewer nest in the bowlder-covered beaches, but large areas nearly throughout the island 

 are occupied by nesting colonies. Although the bird lays only one egg, the nesting period 

 extends from late May to mid August, and probably at least two young are raised. 

 Those taken for food by the natives are netted in spring as they fly along the cUffs, and 

 the birds are practically unmolested during the breeding season. Many thousands are 

 destroyed by the foxes throughout the summer, but in spite of the large numbers which 

 meet death from these causes the birds continue to occur in such myriads that it is diffi- 

 cult to conceive of any larger numbers existing. 



DUCKS AND GEESE. 



Several species of ducks and geese occur in comparatively small numbers on the 

 Pribilof Islands either as scarce breeders or as more or less regular visitors during 

 migration. Several species are of some importance, and of these may be mentioned the 

 eider ducks (the King Eider, Somateria spectabilis, being the commonest) and the 

 Emperor Goose {Philacte canagica). The latter is taken mainly in autumn. The eiders 

 are more or less numerous during the autumn, winter, and spring, particularly in seasons 

 when the ice packs closely about the islands. 



The eiders are birds of mde distribution, and the comparative few which are killed 

 on the Pribilof Islands can not affect the species to any appreciable extent. The Emperor 

 Goose is of rather restricted range, but so few visit the Pribilofs that the destruction 

 there may be considered negligible. 



SHORE BIRDS. 



The list of shore birds, including sandpipers, turnstones, plovers, curlews, and god- 

 wits, is rather extensive, but the only species which need consideration in the present 

 connection are the Pribilof Sandpiper and the Pacific Turnstone. 



The Pribilof Sandpiper {Arquatella ptilocnemis) , as far as known, breeds only on 

 these islands and on St. Matthew Island. The breeding season is passed by the birds 



