1852 The Zoologist — October, 1869, 



congregating and breeding on the coast islands as well as the main- 

 land. 



Arctic Tern, S. macrura, Nauman. — Rare at Cow Head ; otherwise 

 I confused it with the preceding species. Both are called " steerings" 

 by the settlers — a name which their cry suggests. Some few small 

 islands round the coasts of Newfoundland have been named " Steering" 

 Islands from the number of terns which breed on them, although the 

 name suggests a nautical derivation. 



Least Tent, S. frenata, Gamhel. — Apparently very rare. I only ex- 

 amined one specimen, which was shot about the 10th of September, 

 1867. This bird was probably blown across to Newfoundland by N.W. 

 gales, which often prevail at that season. 



SULID.K. 



Common Ganiiet, Sula bassana (Z«/in.) — A very common summer 

 migrant and constant attendant on the large shoals of mackerel and 

 herring, which are migratory in spring and fall, the seasons of which 

 are indicated to the settlers by gannets and gulls. 



Phalacrocoracid^ — The Cormorants. 



Common Cormorant, Graculus carbo [Linn.) — A summer migrant 

 and very abundant at some breeding stations along the coast. 



Double-crested Cormorant, G. dilophus {Swain.) — Equally abun- 

 dant as the preceding ; both species fly in the form of the letter V 

 reversed, and breed in colonies : G. dilophus is said to breed in trees 

 in Hawk's Bay, Newfoundland. 



CoLVMBIDvE. 



Loon or Great Northern Diver, Colymbus torquatus, Briinn. — 

 A very common summer migrant to Newfoundland, where it is called 

 " Loo," not Loon. At this season nearly every lake and large pond is 

 tenanted by its pair of loos ; I say by its pair, because I believe the 

 same pair, unless destroyed or continually disturbed, invariably return 

 to the same site for many years. In 18(57 a female loo hatched her 

 two eggs on a rock in Parson's Pond, within gunshot of a house of 

 one of the settlers. The house was not usually tenanted during 

 summer, but some of the family were daily going to and from. The 

 same pair of birds [1) had for many years hatched their young on this 

 rock, which sloped gradually into the water, and was nowhere at that 

 season more than a foot out of water. When built on an island, or by 



