60 NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS IN ALASKA. 



The eggs are rarely laid before June 5 or 10, ami I found one egg with an embryo two-thirds 

 groTU on September 1, but this is very unusual. When partly fledged the young have pale, dingy, 

 orange-yellow feet and legs; tip of beak and culmen dark horn color; gape and rest of beak pale 

 orange-yellow. 



The young in any stage maybe readily distinguished from the joving of pararliswa by the 

 deeply cleft toe-web, whereas the web of the latter is nearly full. The young of alcuiu-a are 

 hatched from the last of June until September, and the first ones are on the wing by tiie last of 

 July. The old birds stray along the coast after the first of July and until about the middle of Sep- 

 tember, after which none are seen until the following season. 



Ou September I, 1879, I visited the island near Kegikhtowik and found from sixty to eightj- 

 adults of this species haunting the vicinity and circling in graceful flight all about the island. 

 When we landed and passed over the island the birds showed considerable anxiety and continu- 

 ally uttered a thin, clear, trilling whistle. With the exception of some broken eggshells and the 

 old depressions showing the nesting sites, nothing but a single egg was found there, but as we 

 walked out on a low cape, covered with large scattered rocks, we put up, one after the other, 

 a considerable number of young birds just able to fly, and a goodly number were secured. When 

 they arose they had a queer, erratic, dazed kind of flight, reminding me of the flight of an owl sud- 

 denly disturbed in the daytime. The old birds kept flying in toward the point with small fishes in 

 their beaks, but although we concealed ourselves in the rocks others of the party evidently warned 

 them, so that only two or three of the adults were taken. One young bird was fired at and missed 

 and flew wildly out to sea, when it was joined by an old bird which kept close to it, and as the 

 yonng bird became tired and turned toward shore the parent met it and forced it to turn back. 

 This maneuver was repeated over a dozen times, until the young bird was forced off to sea out of 

 sight. This was one of the most striking instances of bird sagacity I met with in the north. 



The downy young of this species appear to be distinguishable from the young of all other 

 species. The color above is a grayish buff, profusely blotched with black. The black of the chin 

 and throat extends somewhat to the upper portion of the breast. The breast is pure white, shad, 

 ing into a very dark gray on the belly and sides. There is considerable difference in individual 

 specimens, some being of a light buff above. 



As compared with the downy young of jyaradisfva from Labrador, these birds are darker 

 above, buff instead of a light fulvous, and with more black blotching. The black of the under 

 parts in paradisa'd is limited to the chin and throat, while the belly is of a much lighter color. 



The young when just on the wing have the occiput blackish brown, the head above spotted 

 with same. The feathers of back, wing coverts, and tertiaries are edged with bright ochraceons, 

 which also tips the tail feathers. The secondaries are broadly tipped with white, making a con- 

 spicuous wing-band. Under parts white, the breast washed with smoky brown. Up[>er mandible 

 black, lower yellow. The rump is rts/f^/ iustead of white, as in the corresponding stage o{ p(ir<i- 



disaa, 



Hydeochelidon nigra suRiNAMEKSis (Gmel). Black Tern. 



The only record of this bird's occurrence in Alaska is that given by ]\Ir. Dall, who obtained a 

 single specimen with an egg from an Indian at Fort Yukon. Both bird and egg were taken in the 

 marshes near that place in June. 



DiOMEDEA NIGRIPES Aud. Blackfooted Albatross. 



The day after we left San Francisco on our way north, April 26, these birds first appeared, aud 

 on the third day out about thirty kept in our wake. On the eighth day only a few were left, and 

 when two days from the Aleutian Islands none were to be seen. On our way south from the 

 Aleutians in October, 1881, these birds first appeared about 150 miles south of the islands, and 

 only disappeared when Cape Mendocino came in view. Through all the ten days of continuous 

 gales we experienced, which were so fierce as to do our vessel much damage and force us to lay to 

 for several days, the buoyant forms of these birds were visible. As night hid the face of the Pacific 

 thej' were seen upon motionless wings gliding along our wake or cutting across the bow, and 

 early dawn showed them continuing apparently in the same position, until it seemed as if they had 

 never quitted us through all the gloomy night. 



