56 



L. W. SOWL 



1940, 1944; Murie 1959; and others) have con- 

 sidered the pelagic cormorant to be the most 

 widely distributed and abundant of the four 

 species found in Alaska. Since the modern pic- 

 ture fits, in a general way at least, it would be 

 easy to conclude that the species enjoys an 

 unchanged status. There is just a faint sug- 

 gestion that this may not be true. 



Dement'ev and Gladkov (1966) refer to a 

 great die-off of pelagic cormorants referred to 

 earlier, in the Commander Islands. Stejneger 

 (1885) enlarges on this disaster. It is true that 

 Stejneger visited these islands a relatively 

 short time after the die-off, but he reported 

 that even though the pelagic cormorants were 

 increasing, "people having seen their former 

 multitude think that there is no comparison 

 between the past and the present." Murie 

 (1959) thought that the pelagic cormorant, 

 while numerous, was outnumbered by the red- 

 faced cormorant in the Aleutians. More re- 

 cently there has been the rapid eastward ex- 

 pansion of the red-faced cormorant. Although 

 it is not possible to determine what the real 

 status of the pelagic cormorant is relative to 

 its past status, I conclude that during this 

 century its status relative to that of the red- 

 faced cormorant has declined. 



Red-faced Cormorant (Phalacrocorax urile) 



The red-faced cormorant, in spite of super- 

 ficial similarities to the pelagic cormorant, 

 just does not look the same to an experienced 

 observer. However, it would have been pos- 

 sible for inexperienced observers in the days 

 before modern optics to overlook the differ- 

 ences. The problem was further compounded 

 by the "invisibility" of the ubiquitous cor- 

 morants referred to earlier. Apparent ab- 

 sences or blank spots in their range may not 

 have been real. 



Dement'ev and Gladkov (1966), reporting 

 on the Russian record, stated that the red- 

 faced cormorant was common in the Com- 

 mander Islands during the last part of the 

 19th century and into the early part of the 

 20th. Older authors had also reported it from 

 Kamchatka and the Kurile Islands. Now, ac- 

 cording to Dement'ev and Gladkov, it is an 

 uncommon breeder on Mednyi Island in the 

 Commander Islands and occurs only as an 

 autumn visitor to some of the southern Kurile 

 Islands. 



Turner (1885) reported that the double- 

 crested cormorant was abundant in the Near 

 Islands and that the pelagic cormorant was 

 common, but makes no reference to the red- 

 faced cormorant. One specimen of the latter in 

 the Leningrad Academy of Science was taken 

 at Attu on 16 September 1844 (Gabrielson 

 and Lincoln 1959), which indicates that they 

 were probably present during the period re- 

 ported on by Turner and, therefore, relatively 

 uncommon. Clark (1911) identified red- faced 

 cormorants only a few times and in the Aleu- 

 tians only once, near Agattu. Dall (1874) 

 noted two red-faced cormorants collected at 

 Amchitka but he (Dall 1873) apparently did 

 not see any east of Unalaska. 



Nelson (1887) apparently found red-faced 

 cormorants breeding on the Siberian and 

 Alaskan mainlands at either side of Bering 

 Strait, but Bailey (1948) searched for some 

 sign of their presence and found none. Nelson 

 (1887) also reported the red-faced cormorant 

 from St. Matthew and St. Lawrence islands in 

 the northern Bering Sea and from St. Michael 

 and Nelson Island on the Alaskan coast. 

 Gabrielson and Lincoln (1959) pointed out 

 that it has not been found breeding north of 

 the Pribilofs since then. Friedmann (1934) pro- 

 vides support for Nelson by reporting red- 

 faced cormorant bones from archeological 

 sites on St. Lawrence. Gabrielson and Lincoln 

 (1959) cited two red-faced cormorants in the 

 Leningrad Academy of Science which were 

 collected in the Pribilofs in 1843. Dall and 

 Bannister (1869) reported them to be plentiful 

 on St. George Island. Baird (1869) also noted 

 their presence in the Pribilofs. 



Bent (1964) makes no mention of seeing the 

 red-faced cormorant in the Aleutians. He 

 gives their breeding range as the Bering Sea 

 region, the Pribilof Islands, and perhaps the 

 western Aleutians, the Commander Islands, 

 and the coast of Siberia north of North Cape. 

 The American Ornithologists' Union (1931) 

 gave their breeding range as the Pribilof Is- 

 lands, the Commander Islands, and Siberia 

 north to North Cape. 



Murie (1959) found a colony of between 

 4,000 and 5,000 red-faced cormorants nesting 

 on Amak Island in 1925. In 1936 he was sur- 

 prised to find that the red-faced cormorant 

 was the most abundant breeding cormorant in 

 the Aleutian Islands. Pelagic cormorants still 



