66 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN DIVING BIRDS 



Mr. N. A. Sarudny (1912), who described the Asiatic bird under 

 the name Urinator arcticus suschkini, claims that the Asiatic bird is 

 smaller and has a shorter bill than the European. Perhaps, if we 

 had more material for study, we might be able to confirm his views; 

 moreover, we should naturally expect to find the Asiatic bird inter- 

 mediate in all characters between the European and the American 

 birds; but, strangely enough, the largest bird we have seen, with a 

 bill measuring 2.87 and a wing measuring 13 inches, was taken at 

 St. Michael, Alaska; it is referable to a new Asiatic form, Gavia viri- 

 digularis Dwight, and was probably a straggler from Siberia. 



The color characters are equally unsatisfactory, or more so. Mr. 

 Sarudny (1912) separates his Asiatic bird from the European bird 

 on several color characters, which are very variable and which, at 

 best, make this bird only intermediate between the European and 

 American birds. With what scanty material we have in this country 

 to study, it would be unwise to express an opinion, at this time, 

 on the validity of the two Asiatic subspecies. The Asiatic bird, 

 viridigularis, apparently, sometimes wanders to northwestern Alaska 

 on migrations; it may occasionally breed in the vicinity of Norton 

 Sound. So, if we are to recognize this bird as distinct from the 

 European, it is apparently the former and not the latter which be- 

 longs on the American list. 



The European bird, Gavia arctica arctica (Linnaeus) seems to 

 have no standing as an American bird. I have been unable to find an 

 American specimen which I could identify as arctica; all the speci- 

 mens which I have been able to locate, taken in eastern North 

 America, are either typical pacifica or are nearer that than anything 

 else. Numerous records are based on erroneous identifications of 

 immature common loons, Gavia immer. For further information re- 

 garding all the American records that we could trace, I would refer 

 the reader to a recent paper on the subject by my assistant, Mr. F. 

 Seymour Hersey (1917). 



I have therefore no reason for including the life history of the 

 European bird in this work. So little is known about the distribu- 

 tion and habits of the Asiatic bird that I shall not attempt to write 

 a fragmentary story, which probably would not differ materially 

 from what I have written about the Pacific loon. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Breeding range. Northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere, 

 chiefly (if not entirely) confined to Europe and Asia. East to north- 

 eastern Siberia (Chaun Bay; Cape Bolohaja, Baranov; and Gichiga 

 and Marcova, Anadyr district). Southern limits poorly defined. 

 Probably south to Japan and eastern Prussia. West to the British Isles 

 (northern Scotland, the Outer Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland Is- 

 lands). North to the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and the Arctic coast 



