ORNITHOLOGIST 



— AND — 



OOLOGIST. 



$1.00 per 

 Annum. 



FRANK B. WEBSTER, PUBLISHER. 

 Established, March, 1875. 



Single Copy 

 10 Cents. 



VOL. XII. 



BOSTON, MASS., FEBRUARY, 1887. 



No. 



An Ornithologist's Summer in 

 Labrador. 



BY M. ABBOTT FRAZAR. 



( Continued from page 3.) 



Larus {/laucus. Glaucous Gull. Occasionally, 

 up to the last of May, I would see one of this 

 species, but saw none later than that. Doubt 

 if it ever breeds where I was. 



Larus marinus, Great Black-backed Gull. 

 Quite common everywhere, but the least gre- 

 garious of any of the gulls ; for I seldom found 

 more than a half dozen pair breeding on the 

 same island, and a small island of not over a 

 couple of acres, would seldom have more than 

 a couple of pairs on it. The nests were built 

 of dry stalks of grasses ; were very bulky and 

 deeply hollowed; were also placed, as a rule, 

 upon some high spot on the island, so the bird 

 could have a clear view for some distance. I 

 found no clutches of over three eggs, and after 

 they have been robbed once or twice they are 

 more apt to lay two than three. The eggs on 

 an average, are considerablj^ larger than a Her- 

 ring Gull's, and the shell is coarser and lacks 

 any gloss. The spots are also inclined to run 

 much larger and fewer in number, and about 

 five per cent of the eggs taken were of a pale 

 blue ground color, with none, or a very few 

 dark spots on them. As soon as the young are 

 a few days old they leave the nest and secrete 

 themselves among the rocks or paddle about 

 among the islands, always under the watchful 

 eye of their parents far over head. I quite of- 

 ten used to row up on to young birds some dis- 

 tance from the shore, when they would sink 

 down into the water showing but very little of 

 their heads, and try to get away, but if pursued 

 they would come to the surface and put in the 

 best they knew how. That was always the sig- 

 nal for the approach of the old birds, aud so I 

 had no difficulty in procuring what specimens 

 I wished, although it is what might be consid- 



ered a very shy bird. Another way I had of 

 getting them was to shoot down a Herring 

 Gull, which would generally bring them about. 

 During the breeding season they feed very 

 largely upon the eggs of other bii'ds, and upon 

 young Eider Ducks. They will take a Murre 

 egg, grasp it in the centre with their bill, and 

 without breaking the two ends apart, they will 

 crush ill the sides and secure the contents. 

 They must do it skilfully, as I never saw any 

 part of an egg spilt on the i-ocks, nor did I ever 

 see a gull's plumage stained with it either. 

 They catch young Eiders in this way ; two or 

 three gulls will hover over a brood in the water, 

 which of course confuses the mother duck and 

 scatters the brood in all directions. Then by 

 following the ducklings after each dive they 

 would soon tire them out, and a skilfully di- 

 rected blow at the base of the skull, which sel- 

 dom missed its aim, would in an instant finish 

 the business, and before the unhappy duck 

 would know which way to turn its brood would 

 be one less. On several occasions I have seen 

 the mother duck drawn several feet in the air, 

 by clinging to the gull as it dove for its prey, 

 and several times I have seen a venturesome 

 "Black-back" get knocked over with a charge 

 of shot, when he happened to get too interested 

 in his pursuit and allow of my too close ap- 

 proach. 



Their eggs are very nice eating, nearly as 

 good as a Murre's and far superior to a hen's. 

 Quite often they were served to me at meals, 

 but it almost made my heart ache to break one, 

 however, I could not say anything for fear of 

 giving away their value. The young, just after 

 having left the down, are delicious eating. But 

 the old birds are the most rapacious things I 

 ever saw. An incident which happened, just 

 occurs to me. I was anxious to get some spec- 

 imens of the Common Cormorant, quite a col- 

 ony of which lived on some very high cliffs on 

 the point of Cape AVhittle, and as the cliffs were 

 very high, and this species bred only along 



Copyright, 1887, by F. H. Carpekter and F. B. Webster. 



