102 NATURAL HISTORY OF ARCTIC AMERICA. 



in Cumberland, on some small rocky islands. When fresh these dark- 

 colored birds have a bright olive-green gloss, especially apparent on the 

 neck and back. The bill is shorter, stouter, and thicker, dusky brown 

 instead of yellow. On Blue Mountain, Ovifak, Greenland, these birds 

 breed by myriads to the very summit of the mountain, about 2,000 feet. 

 Here I could see but few dark birds; even the full-fledged nestlings were 

 white. 



In Exeter Sound and to the northward along the west shores of Davis 

 Straits and Baffin's Bay, the dark variety seems to predominate. Near 

 Cape Searle they are extraordinarily abundant, breeding by thousands 

 on the Padlie Island, and they are so tame about their nesting-places 

 that they can be killed with a stick. The eggs, even after being blown, 

 for many months still retain the musky odor peculiar to the birds. Per- 

 fectly fresh eggs are quite good eating, but if a couple of days old the 

 musky odor has so permeated them, even the albumen, that they are a 

 little too much for a civilized palate. 



So far as my observations went, more dark birds were seen in spring 

 than in fall, so the dark plumage cannot be characteristic of the young. 



The mollimoke is one of the greediest of birds. I have seen them 

 feeding on the carcass of a whale, when their looks and actions were per 

 fectly those of a vulture, completely begrimed with blood and grease, 

 and so full that they could not take wing. I found great difficulty in 

 procuring white specimens that were not more or less daubed over with 

 " gurry," especially about the head and neck. These birds possess ex- 

 traordinary powers of flight, and are inarvelously graceful on the wing, 

 rising with the billow and again settling into the trough of the sea with- 

 out any apparent motion of the wings. 



73. Cymochorea leucorrhoa, Coues. 



Noticed sparingly about Cape Mercy and Exeter Sound. Two speci- 

 mens seen in Disko Fjord in August, when they were probably nesting. 

 Far less common on the passage southward than the following. 



74. Oceanites oceanica, Keys. 



Traced as far north as Eesolution Island on our outward passage j on 

 tbe homeward, first seen about one hundred miles south of Cape Fare- 

 well. 



75. Fuflinus kuhli, (Briss.) Boie. 



Common from Belle Isle to Grinnell Bay. Not observed in Cumber- 

 land, on the Greenland^ coast. 



