64: NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS IN ALASKA. 



chain. The male is said to assume a large part of the duties of iacubatiou. A single white egg is 

 usually laid in the eud of a burrow from G iuches to a foot deep. The burrow is usually iu a turfy 

 bank aud is rarely straight. They disgorge a reddish, oily fluid when handled, which has a strong, 

 musky odor. The birds are largely nocturnal in their habits during this season. Fresh eggs were 

 taken from June 10 to the mid of July. Our author also states that birds from the islands are 

 darker than those from Sitka. Upon these islands they are summer residents, arriving in May and 

 going south in winter. 



These birds breed all along the coast to Southern California and are probably the species 

 which breeds on the Mendocino County coast, and are called " musk-birds" by the people there. 

 They breed also on the Commander Islands according to Stejueger. 



OcEANODEOMA FUECATA (Gmel.). Fork-tailed Petrel (Esk. OK-ivik). 



The Aleutian Islands form the main home of this elegant bird. It is seen in the North Pacific 

 for one or two hundred miles south from the islands, but the passes and waters within a few miles 

 of the outer shores afford them their most frequented haunts. The middle of June, 1877, they 

 were common offshore west of Nunivak Island, in Bering Sea, and they are frequent autumnal 

 visitants to all parts of this sea. I obtained several specimens at Saint Michaels usually during 

 October. The Eskimo find them even after the sea is covered with ice. At such times they are 

 usually near an air-hole, and in several cases were captured alive, being too weak from starvation 

 to escape. They are also sometimes found on the Lower Yukon, and, strangely enough, one was 

 caj)tured about 75 miles up the Tanaua River, where the bird was found sitting on the ice near an 

 air-hole late in November. In the flesh they measure about 8.75 inches long by 18 iu extent. 



During the cruise of the Corwiu, in 1881, these petrels were seen on several occasions in 

 Bering Straits and about Saint Lawrence Island, aud iu Plover Bay, Siberia. 



Two specimens were taken in Kotzebue Sound by the Eskimo during my residence at Saint 

 Michaels, so its range reaches the Arctic Circle. Tiiey never pay the slightest attention to a vessel, 

 and have the same style of flight and habits at sea as Leach's Petrel. They were found breeding 

 upon the Chica Rocks in Akoutan Pass, near Unalaska, on June 2, by Mr. Dall. The nests were on 

 the edge of a steep bank near, but 10 or 12 feet above, the shore. They were iu holes extending 

 obliquely downward aud back aud about a foot deep. In the bottom was a little dry grass and tine 

 roots. The eggs were white and but one in a nest. The same naturalist afterwards found these 

 birds breeding from the pass named west to the end of the chain. The soft delicate colors of this 

 petrel render it one of the most elegant of the northern water-fowl and especially marked among 

 the other petrels. When caught on the nest they eject the musky, oily contents of their stomachs. 

 Their habits seem to be very much like those of Leach's Petrel. 



Stejueger found this bird breeding on Copper Island, one of the Commander group. The eggs 

 were deposited singly in holes, three or more feet deep, among the basaltic rocks. Both male aud 

 female birds were found incubating. The eggs are dull white, with fine spots of lilac and dark color 

 about the larger end. 



OCEANODEOMA HOBNBYi (Gray). Homby's Petrel. 



While on my way to and from the Aleutian Islands a i)etrel couspicuous by its white collar 

 aud under surface was seen repeatedly, aud, although none were secured, yet it was identified by 

 its peculiar pattern of coloration. 



These birds were seen both iu ]May and in October while crossing a part of the Pacific some 

 500 miles broad bordering the Aleutian chain. 



[Note. — It is highly probable that the birds referred to are the 0. Jisheri, recently described by Mr. Eidgway. — 

 H. W. H.] 



At least three additional species of ])etrels were seen while iu this same part of the North 

 Pacific, but as none could be secured their identity i-emains unknown. 



Two species of Puffinus were also seen but not identified. A thorough examination of the 

 Aleutian chain will undoubtedly add one or more species of this family to our fauna. 



