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KEELER 



The following day we spent some hours exploring St. 

 Matthew Island. Its shores and tundras were inhabited 

 by the same birds, and we discovered also two or three 

 additional species. One of the party shot an old-squaw 

 duck and an eider, while Dr. Fisher and Mr. Fuertes se- 

 cured specimens of the exquisite little Sabine's gull a 

 small species with white plumage, slaty-black hood, a 

 mantle of slaty-blue, and a forked tail. On the tundras 

 of both islands the Pribilof sandpiper was very common 

 and on Hall Island Dr. Grinnell discovered its nest and 

 eggs. It is a fine, large species with a reddish back, a 

 black patch on its breast, and dusky spots on its cheeks. 

 Upon alighting beside a pool it has a characteristic habit 

 of holding one wing straight up in the air for a moment as 

 if to steady the body after the momentum of flight. 



Upon leaving St. Matthew Island we proceeded rapidly 

 on our homeward way, and from that time on learned 

 nothing of striking interest concerning the birds. Shortly 

 alter leaving Unalaska Island we observed a vast swarm 

 of Pacific fulmars in dark plumage flying about the sur- 

 face of the water. They must have numbered several 

 thousand birds in one compact flock and were evidently 

 attracted by a school of fish. 



