110 CRUISE OP STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 



Siberian coast. A.s noted by the iiatuialist of tlie Jeaniiette, wlio saw several of these birds at 

 Saint Lawrence Bay the hist of August, 1879, it is very irregular in its distribution, as the coast 

 for a hundred miles may not have a single pair, and again they may occur in the greatest abun- 

 dance. Rather low rocky islets appear to be their choice for breeding places, as sIjowu by their 

 habits in the vicinity of Saint Michael's, where they nest among the low vegetation covering the 

 rocks, making no artiticial nest, or but a slight attempt at one, usually depositing their eggs in a 

 slight hollow made in the dead grasses and moss. The nests were difficult to find from the close 

 resemblance of the eggs to the ground ajion which they are placed. The birds hover overhead 

 when disturbed, but become very shy after a little persecution in the way of shooting, so that 

 although I made repeated eltbrts to secure a considerable number of specimens I was able to get 

 but ciunparatively few. Tliey are far more suspicions than the Arctic; Tern, which abound in the 

 same localities and may*l)e killed by iiundreds if desired. 



STERCORARIUS POMATORHINUS (Temm.) Vieill. 



(IGl.) roiiARXNE Jaeger. 



During the summer season these birds are found breeding around the northern coast of Bering 

 Sea from the vicinity of the mouth of Kuskotpiim River to Bering Strait, and among the northern 

 islands of this sea, and along tlie Siberian sliore. They extend their range at this time through 

 the Straits, and are found scattered over the entire part of the Arctic navigable for vessels, breeding 

 upon both shores. During this season tliey reach south to the Aleutian chaiu, and it is possible 

 that some remain there to breed; but as these birds have a northerly distribution in summer the 

 probabilities are agaiust the supposition. A few were seeu at Plover Bay and then scatteringly 

 throughout the Arctic, generally near shore, during the cruise of the Oorwin. They were more 

 numerous on the Asiatic coast than on the American side, except when we reached the vicinity 

 of Point Barrow, wliere a considerable number of these birds were seeu among the drift ice. 

 On June 29 thej' were very numerous off Cape Serdze Kainen, on the Siberian shore. About 

 Nova Zemlya, Nordenstiold informs us, this species is ranch less numerous than the parasitic 

 Jaeger; but like this latter species the present bird has a circumpolar distribution. As we 

 approached Herald and Wrangel Islands on our various visits to that vicinity these Gulls were 

 seen at times, and were very numerous near Herald Island the day we made our landing there, 

 July 30. 



STERCORARIUS CREPIDATUS (Banks) Vieill. 



(162.) Richardson's Jaeger. 



On the coast of Bering Sea, having there almost precisely the same range as the large 

 Jaeger Just meutioned, this bird is found in about equal numbers. It is confined to the vicinity 

 of the shore more closely than the large species, and during the breeding seasou, at least, prefers 

 the bra(!kish pools and uuirshy laud along the low portions of the coast, such as that from the 

 Yukon mouth north along the shore of Norton Sound. It was seen at nearly all the points visited 

 by us both in Bering Sea and the adjoining portions of the Arctic. As we passed north to the 

 vicinity of the ice it became much rarer or was entirely absent; none were seen in the vicinity of 

 Wrangel or Herald Islands, nor were any noted north of Icy Cape on the Alaskan shore, although 

 they probably reach Point Barrow at times. This bird is said to breed on Spitzbergeu and 

 Nova Zemlya, where it lays two eggs upon the bare ground on low, unsheltered, and often wet 

 islets or headlands. It is very greedy, aud in its haste will frequently swallow so much as to be 

 sometimes unable to fly until it has disgorged. 



According to NordenskiiJld, when it is disturbed in the vicinity of its nests it creeps along 

 the ground with odd motions aud liapping wings to draw attention from its eggs. This same 

 habit is possessed by the birds on the Alaskan shore, as I have frequently observed during the 

 breeding season. 



