NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 21 



Siberia, Northern Asia, Europe and America, and on the islands of the 

 Arctic Ocean. It breeds in Greenland and Iceland, is abundant 

 throughout the Barren Grounds of the Arctic coast, and is said to be 

 very numerous in the vicinity of Fort Anderson, also on the shores of 

 Franklin Bay. It is also found breeding on several of the Orkney and 

 Shetland Islands. Nests found in the Arctic regions are mere depres- 

 sions in the soil, scantily lined with dry grass and leaves. Some are 

 placed far inland near small lakes, and often there is really no nest, 

 the eggs being laid on the bare ground. The eggs are said to be not 

 always distinguishable from those of the Parasitic Jaeger, but average 

 smaller ; exceptionally large specimens of S. longicaudus are some- 

 times as large as exceptionally small ones of S. parasiticus They 

 range from 1.95 to 2.18 long, and from 1.45 to 1.55 broad. 



39. Gavia alba (GUNN.) [657.] 



Ivory Gull. 



Hab. Arctic Seas, south in winter on the Atlantic coast of North America to Labrador and New 

 Foundland, casually to New Brunswick, and on the Pacific side to Bering Sea. 



A bird that is resident in the Arctic regions of both hemispheres, 

 only occasionally visiting the more temperate zones. It is said to 

 breed the farthest north of all the gulls. Noted for its ravenous appe- 

 tite, gorging itself with the flesh of the seal and the blubber of the 

 whale. On the islands and along the coasts of Spitzbergen it breeds 

 sparingly ; in like places on the coast of Northern Siberia it is abund- 

 ant. The bird is a resident of Greenland, and the breeding season 

 there begins about the middle of June. The nest is built on some 

 inaccessible rock or clifi ; it is made of dry grass and lined with moss 

 and a few feathers, forming quite a hollow. An egg is described as 

 oblong-oval in shape, with a ground color of light yellowish-olive with 

 small blotches of dark brown scattered over the surface. These are 

 intermingled with more obscure brown and cloudings of lilac. Size 

 2.45 long by 1.70 broad. 



40. Rissa tridactyla (LINN.) [658.] 



Kittiwake. 



Hab. Arctic regions, south in Eastern North America in winter to the Great Lakes and Middle States. 



The Kittiwake Gull is a northern species, found in the Atlantic 

 waters of Europe and America. On the Pacific coast it is represented 

 by the next form, pollicaris. It is one of the commonest resident 

 species of Greenland, and according to observers it inhabits nearly all 

 parts of the Arctic regions. Breeds on the islands of the Atlantic coast 

 of North America, from New England northward ; an abundant species, 



