THE BIRDS 383 
exterminated it. Its broad, sharp bill in summer at once 
distinguishes it from the murre, as well as its habit of cock- 
ing up its tail as it swims. In its short neck it resembles 
the puffin, but it is a larger bird, and as it flies away, it shows 
a black line in the middle of its back between white sides, 
while the puffin looks black from the same point of view. 
The dovekie, or little auk, breeds farther north, but is found 
along the coast during the migrations and in winter. 
Of the gull family it is possible to mention only a few 
here. Perhaps the most beautiful in flight are the hunters 
of the sea, the jaegers, who rob the other gulls and terns 
of their prey. A pomarine jaeger in the black phase twist- 
ing and turning in pursuit of a white kittiwake is indeed 
a beautiful sight. The kittiwakes breed on the high cliffs 
of the northern Labrador coast, but may be seen in great 
flocks anywhere along the shore. An assembly of several 
thousand of these beautiful white birds settling on the 
water and rising to whirl about like gusts of snow driven 
by the wind, is a wonderful sight. Their cries suggest the 
syllables kittewake. 
The great black-gulled gull and herring gull are such 
familiar birds in winter farther south that they need not 
be mentioned here, but one must not omit to speak of the 
glorious glaucous, or burgomaster, gull. This bird, as large 
as a great black-backed gull, breeds on the eastern coast 
in moderate numbers. The purity of its plumage vies 
with that of the Arctic ice that often surrounds it. The 
long feathers of the wings are spotless white, instead of 
being marked as in the herring gull. The adults have 
a gray-blue mantle on the back, while the immature birds 
Jack this mantle and are of a universal whiteness slightly 
tinged with buff. 
