DOVEKIE 219 



returned soon to the rocks or sank to the water to rest, but the stronger ap- 

 parently sailed away out of sight. 



Plumages. Ridgway (1887) describes the downy young as "uni- 

 form sooty slate color, paler or more grayish below." The Juvenal 

 plumage soon appears and is practically complete before the young 

 bird leaves the nest, the last of the down disappearing on the chest, 

 belly, and rump. Strangely enough, the Juvenal plumage is similar, 

 in color pattern, to the nuptial plumage and entirely unlike that of 

 the first winter; the entire head, neck, and throat are "clove brown;" 

 the upper parts are similar, but blacker, and the lower parts are 

 white. Within a few weeks, before the end of September, the young 

 bird prepares for its fall migration by a complete molt of the body 

 plumage, producing the first winter plumage, much thicker and of 

 firmer texture. This plumage is very much like the adult winter 

 plumage, but the upper parts are duller and browner, and the bill 

 is smaller and weaker. At the first prenuptial molt young birds 

 become practically indistinguishable from adults. 



Adults have a partial prenuptial molt late in the winter or very 

 early in the spring and a complete postnuptial molt in August and 

 September. The clear, glossy black back is characteristic of the 

 winter adult. 



Food. Mr. Ekblaw writes to me: 



The food of the young dovekies is largely made up of the so-called "shrimps" 

 (Schizopoda-Myris?} so numerous in Arctic waters, and the so-called "black- 

 berries," the little black "arthropods" that are numerous in the water too. 

 I think it is this latter food that gives rise to the pink and lavender dung of 

 the dovekie. The intervals at which the young are fed varies, but they are 

 usually measured by hours, though when food does come it is in quantity. 



The food of the adult bird is probably the same as that of the young while in 

 their summer home. This food it obtains in the sea, usually most easily, ap- 

 parently in certain currents, or about headlands, ice pans, or icebergs. Be- 

 fore the nesting period begins, the bird spends long periods in the water off- 

 shore. It travels considerable distances after food, those at Etah going at 

 least as far as Cairn Point and Force Bay to the northward. 



Audubon (1840) found in the stomachs of dovekies "shrimps and 

 other Crustacea and particles of seaweed." Nuttall (1834) mentions 

 marine insects and a small species of crab as included in their food. 

 According to Yarrell (1871), Major Feilden's notes state: 



During the breeding season the pouch-like enlargement of the cheeks gives 

 them a singular appearance. The contents of the cheeks is a reddish-colored 

 substance, which on closer examination is found to consist of immense num- 

 bers of minute Crustacea. The adaptation of the mouth in this species as a 

 receptacle for the food required for their young does not appear to have at- 

 tracted much attention among naturalists; and yet a little consideration would 

 have shown that some such arrangement must be required. With fish feeders, 

 such as Alca, Uria, and Fratercula, no difficulty arises in transporting food 

 to their young; but in the case of Mergulus die, which, I believe, subsists 



