342 



LONG- WINGED SWIMMERS — LONGIPENNES. 



The young, when ready to leave the nest, are deep gray on the top of the head ; 

 neck light gray, with longitudinal streaks oi uiown, with a mixtui'e of umber-brown, 

 yellowish brown, and reddish in the residue of their plumage. 



This species was procured by Mr. Dall at the mouth of the Yukon River, and by 

 Mr. E. K. Laborne at Anadyr Gulf, in Eastern Siberia. Mr. Bannister found it com- 

 mon at St. Michael's. All the specimens that he obtained were shot on the ground, 

 they having apparently a habit of sitting on the mossy tundras, or heaths ; and not, 

 infrequently he has followed one for more than a mile at a time, the bird flyinf,' 

 short distances, and alighting just out of range. This habit is explained by some by 

 the statement that it feeds on the berries that abound in these situations ; by others, 

 tliat it is in quest of the eggs of some other species, which it is accused of devouring. 

 Mr. Bannister was not able to verify either explanation. 



Mr. E. Adams (" Ibis," 1878) mentions the arrival of this species on Norton Sound, 

 Alaska, on the 7th of May ; after which several were always to be found near the 

 stages for drying fish, by plundering which they seemed chiefly to subsist. Some 

 of them frequented the marshes, hunting about for eggs, and robbing the Terns and 

 small Gulls. They bred about the dry knolls in the marshes. 



Mr. MacFarlane found it abundant throughout the Barren Grounds, as well as in 

 the neightorhood of Fort Anderson, and also on the shores of Franklin Bay and tlic 

 Arctic Ocean. The nests were all }uere depressions in the soil, scantily lined witli 

 dry hay, leaves, and the like, and the number of eggs was never more than two. i)\w. 

 nest is mentioned as having been discovered in a very thinly wooded X'lain, June 2cS. 

 The eggs contained well-developed embryos. The parents were both present, but did 

 not nuike so much noise as usual, and when closely ajjproached flew off to a tree in 

 the vicinity. One nest was near a small lake, and it was lined with a few witlieri'd 

 leaves of grasses. Another was some distance from a lake, and both parents flew 

 and screamed over the heads of the intruders while these were searching for tiio 

 nest. One egg was only slightly advanced, while the other was nearly ready to 

 hatch. In another instance the parents made an unprecedented disturbance, flyinj,' 

 close overhead, and were easily secured. In some instances the birds examined wcic 

 found to have partaken of a quantity of last year's berries, thus confirming the state- 

 ments to that eft'ect made by the natives to Air. Dall. Another memorandum states 

 that a uest witli two eggs was found, June 27, on a dry turfy piece of ground, about 

 fifty yards from the beach, on Franklin Bay. There really was no nest, and the ej;,i,'s 

 were extremely difficult to find, owing partly to their color being exactly similar to 

 that of the soil, and partly to the efforts of botli parents to mislead those searchiiij,' 

 for the nest — to effect which they scream and fly over the head of the intruder; and 

 if their treasure seems on the point of being discovered, the parent birds — esjn'- 

 cially the female — become so savage that there is danger of actual injury resultinj,' 

 from their attivcks. In anotlier instance, where a nest was being sought for on the 

 Barren Groi'uds, June 26, 1863, the i)arents endeavored by various stratagems to 

 lead the intruder away from the place ; and when the eggs were finally discovereil, 

 they began a furious attack ui)on his head, so that it was necessary to shoot tlioni 

 in self-defence. In another instance, on tlie siime day, a female sitting on her nest 

 fluttered off when discovered, as if with a broken wing, much as a I'lover would do 

 in a similar ciise. 



In a note made June 28, 1863, Mr. n..tcFarlane says : " At midnight the sun is sev- 

 eral degrees above tlie horizon, and there is, of course, no night. During the peril nl 

 answering to it, however, as many as twenty or thirty birds of the genus Stercor<irlvs 

 are sometimes seen sitting or standing on the ground, each bird at the distance ot h 



