BIRDS. . 45 



They uest npou the Fur Seal Islauds, aud are especially numerous ou the Diomedes in Beriug 

 Straits, where we secured Iresb eggs the middle of July, 1881. They are uot coramou on the east 

 coast of the sea, where the ww.ter is shallow, and are scarce also in Norton Sound for the same 

 reason. 



A few pairs of a black Guillemot, which at the time I took to be this species, were seen iu 

 Kotzebue Sound and others at Cape Lisburne, but the deep bays and deep water ou the Siberian 

 coast of Bering Sea aud the adjacent Arctic aiford them a favorite summer resort, and they hud 

 an abundance of breeding places on the cliffs there. The red feet of these birds are used by the 

 Eskimo of the straits for ornaments on some of their clothing, and the skins are used for clothing. 

 In winter their plumage changes to a pied mixture of black and white, and when hunting far out 

 at sea the Eskimo of Norton Sound tiud them late iu November about the holes in the ice. 



A specimen in this mottled dress was brought me on August 21: one season at Saint Michaels. 

 It measured 13 inches iu length by 22.50 inches iu extent. Its beak was dark horn-colored, except 

 a streak of light flesh color aloug the culiuen over tlie nostrils. The iris was hazel and the feet aud 

 legs dirty flesh color. Iu sf)ring, the last of March and first of April, they are again found among 

 the open spaces at sea by the native hunters. 



Uria teoile califoenica (Bryant). California Murre (Esk. AthV-pa). 



An abundant resident along the entire Aleutian chain and the mainland coast of the Pacific. 



Birds and eggs have beeu taken at Sitka aud Kadiak, and they occur throughout this region. 

 On the Fur Seal Islands Elliott found them to occur in small numbers. They breed ou the 

 Commander Islauds. They swarmed about Herald Island when we visited there August 12, 

 1881, and the downy young, small black balls of down, only a day or two old, were taken 

 there. When we landed upon the unknown shores of Wrangel Islaud we found them breeding 

 on the cliffs there, but in smaller numbers. Wliile we were scaling the cliffs ou Herald Islaud 

 these Guillemots would scarcely make way for us, aud a few feet away sat almost bolt upright and 

 stared at us with a comical expression of amazement. Their close resemblance to the next species 

 with which they were associated rendei-ed it impossible to distinguish them except at very close 

 quarters. A party of about fifty was seen ou the cliff of Saint George's Island ou one occasion, 

 but they were more commou iu twos and threes. 



Uria lomvia area (Pall.). Pallas's Muire (Esk. Athl'-jm.) 



Wherever the coasts and islauds of Alaska ai'e bordered by rugged cliffs and rocky declivi- 

 ties this bird is found iu great abundance. They occur at Kadiak and along the adjacent coast 

 from Sitka to the peninsula of Aliaska. The precipitous shore lines of the Aleutian Islauds afford 

 them a favorite resort during the breeding season, and the surrounding waters make their winter- 

 ing ijlace. They were extremely plentiful in great flocks iu the passes near Unala.ska during May, 

 1877, and storms forced them to find shelter iu the deep bays. The middle of June, the same sea- 

 son, they were seen iu large numbers off the Fur Seal Islands aud off Saint Lawrence Islaud. It 

 is an abundant resident of the Near Islauds. At Point Barrow it is reported by Murdoch to be an 

 occasional visitor, usually in the broken ice offshore. The Eskimo sometimes found a stray indi- 

 vidual off Saint Michaels the first of May, but they were rarely seen until the last of this mouth. 



During Juue they gathered about their nesting places iu Norton Sound as the ice disap- 

 peared, but several seasons fresh eggs were brought iu the last of July aud first of August. 

 Cape Denbigh and a long cliff west of Cape Darby, on the north shore of Norton Sound, are noted 

 breeding resorts, the latter place being called Athlpul t (fit (or Murre Place) by the Eskimos. All 

 the islauds of Beriug Sea are frequented by myriads of them iu summer, their abundance about 

 the Fur Seal group and the Diomede Islauds in the straits being specially noticeable. They breed 

 iu small uumbers ou Chamisso Islet, in Kotzebue Souud, aud on the clifl's near Cape Lisburne, but 

 were not seen by us north of that point. They are very numerous on the Siberian coast, and were 

 the most numerous birds ou Herald and "Wrangel Islauds. They breed abundantly ou the Com- 

 mander Islauds, according to Stejneger. AVhenever we approached these islauds during the sum- 



