BIRDS. 53 



Larits glaucescens Ifaiuu. Glaucous- winged Gull (Esk. Ku-J^izh-tiicUK-). 



During ^May, 1S77, tliese birds were abuudant about Unalaska aud also upon Akoutan and 

 Sanak Islands, to the east. The adults had lemon- yellow bills with a large orange-yellow spot on 

 the angle of lower mandible ; their feet were flesh-colored. By May 20 they had reoccupied their old 

 nesting-places along the clitt's, and although they had no eggs yet they resented, by loud cries and 

 great restlessness, any intrusion into their haunts. 



It breeds abundantly on the Near Islands and also on the Commanders. 



At Saint Michaels they arrive early in 3Iay with barrovianus and remain until the end of 

 October, when forced south by the newly-formed ice. 



This bird has a more southern distribution than barrovUuuts or leucopferus. It is found on the 

 Pacific coast from California north. During the Telegraph Explorations they were taken at Sitka 

 and Kadiak. Throughout the Aleutian chain Mr. Dall found this a very abuudant resident species, 

 although most numerous in the eastern half of the group. He secured nearly-fledged young at 

 Kyska early in July. Fi'om the same author I cpiote the following interesting notes. 



The habit of this aud other siieeies iu breeding on isolated rocks aud small islauds, is accounted for by the immu- 

 iiitj- thus gained from the ravages of foxes ou the eggs and young brood. 



On the 2d of June, 187-2, many eggs iu a pretty fresh condition were obtaiued on the Chica Roelis and islets in the 

 Akutau Pass. The eggs were very abuudant, more than three beiug rarely found together, and were laid ou .almost 

 ■any little depression of the ground, with little or uo attemjit at a lining. About the 13th of July, ou the Shumagins, 

 at Coal Harbor, on a peculiar high, round isl.and, abundance of eggs were found, but most of them pretty well 

 incubated. In this case, the isLlnd being covered with tall rank grass, the nests were almost concealed, and, either 

 from the dead grass naturally oceurriug iu the depressions, or otherwise, all of them h.ad more or less dry grass in aud 

 about them. The gulls built solely ou the top of the highest part of the island, iu the grass, and never ou the lower 

 portion, near the shore, nor on the shelves of the rocky and precipitous sides. The young, in down, were obtained 

 July 16, and the iris of these specimens, as well as the beak aud feet, was nearly black. The iris of the adult bird 

 is a clear gray, the bill chrome-yellow with a red patch anteriorly, and tie feet flesh-color. 



The usual nesting- places of this species are the faces of rugged cliffs, at whose base the waves 

 are continually breaking and the coast exposes its wildest aud most broken outline, the locations 

 described by Mr. Dall beiug exceptions to the rule. All about the coasts aud islands of Bering 

 Sea this gull is a common summer resident, but it is not by any means common north of the straits, 

 where it is replaced almost entirely by barrovianus aud leucoiUcnis. The habits of these two 

 species are almost identical where they are found together in Bering Sea aud they are not easily 

 distinguished until very near or unless the two chance to be side by side. We have uo record of 

 its occurrence iu the interior, although it may frequent the Lower Yukon with leucopterus. 



The center of abundance of this species in summer may be located along the Aleutian chain, 

 leiicopfcnis having its center of abundance along the northern shores of Bering Sea, aud barro- 

 viaiius north of the straits. In winter the two latter freqaeut the Aleutian chain, while many of 

 the (jlaucescens move south. 



Larus nelsoni Heush. Nelson's Gull. 



Since the description of this species in the Auk for July, 1884 (p. 250), nothing whatever has 

 been added to our knowledge respecting it, and the type specimen remains unicxue. Its resemblance 

 to several of the larger gulls is likely to keep us iu ignorance of its range and habits for a long- 

 time to come, or until it is made the object of special attention by the naturalists visiting Alaska. 

 The type specimen was captured by Mr. Nelson at Saint Michaels June 20. 



The immature gull taken by Murdoch at Point Barrow and mentioned iu Report of the Inter- 

 national Polar Expedition, 1SS5, p. 123, under L. l^itmlieni, is too immature, as Mr. Ilidgway now in- 

 forms me, to be satisfactorily identified, though believed at the time to be that species. The record 

 of the L. liianUeui from Alaska is therefore to be canceled. — H. W. H. 



Larus schlstisagi'S Stejn. Slaty-backed Gull. 



In September, ISSO, Capt. C. L. Hooper, of the Corwin, took the first example of this bird 

 known from the west coast of America. It was secured at the^Diomede Islauds, in Bering Straits, 

 and is in the National Museum collection. 



