246 LONG-WINGED SWIMMERS - LONGIPENNES. 



speaking of it under the former name, he states that it breeds in Arctic America, 

 but that it retires to the south when winter sets in ; referring to it as zonorhynchus, 

 he adds that he found it breeding in considerable numbers in swampy places on 

 the banks of the Saskatchewan. Captain Blakiston also mentions meeting with it 

 on the lower portions of the Saskatchewan. 



Colonel Grayson states that he found this species common during the winter 

 months in the neighborhood of Mazatlan. 



It breeds on the northern coast of Labrador, and in the summer of 1850 I obtained 

 in Halifax specimens of the birds and eggs that had been procured the previous sum- 

 mer in the neighborhood of Cape Harrison. This bird is said to be not at all shy, 

 and to permit a near approach. Dr. Bryant did not meet with it either on the Gannet 

 Eocks, in the St. Lawrence, where Avidubon states that he found it breeding, or in 

 Labrador. On the latter coast, on the 18th of July, on a low rocky island near the 

 harbor of Little Macatina, Audubon found a large colony of these birds breeding. 

 All the eggs contained chicks in a more or less advanced condition. The number of 

 eggs in each nest was generally three, and they Avere said to resemble those of the 

 mar'mus in form and color, and to measure 2.75 inches in length by 1.68 in breadth. 

 There was considerable diversity both in the tint of their ground-color and in the 

 number and size of their spots. Generally they were of a dull dark cream-color, 

 thickly blotched, and sprinkled with different shades of purple, umber, and black. 

 The nests, formed of seaweed, were all placed on the bare rock, were well constructed, 

 and were about twelve inches in their greatest diameter. The whole place had the 

 appearance of having been resorted to for several years in succession. The birds 

 were very shy. 



Mr. Boardman informs me that this species is quite common both in spring and 

 fall in Passamaquoddy Bay, and also in the Bay of Fundy ; but he thinks that it 

 does not breed in that neighborhood now, whatever may have been the case when 

 Audubon visited Eastport. It is common in the winter along the Atlantic coast as 

 far south as Maryland at least, and probably immature birds wander still farther. 



It is of occasional occurrence in Bermuda, where IMajor Wedderburn speaks of it 

 as rare, one specimen only, so far as he knew, having been met with there, in January, 

 1849. It is, according to Giraud, common off the coast of Long Island throughout 

 the winter, from November to April. 



In its migrations, both in the spring and fall, this species appears to be more or 

 less abundant in the valley of the Mississippi, and also farther west. It is of fre- 

 quent occurrence throughout Colorado, especially in the spring. Professor Frank 

 H. Snow, of the Lawrence (Kan.) University, obtained a specimen near that city, 

 April 2, 1872. Professor Kumlien writes me that this Gull is common about Lake 

 Koskonong, in Southern Wisconsin, where it is found in much larger flocks than the 

 argentatus. Immature birds are often seen in small flocks of from eight to twenty in 

 the lake in June ; and occasionally a few have been noticed there all summer. They 

 are not known to breed there ; although once on the sandy shore the fragment of an 

 egg was found which may have belonged to this species, as it was very much like 

 the e^^ of Lams camcs of Europe. This Gull arrives later than argentatus, about 

 the middle or latter part of April, and remains as late in the fall as November 7. 



Mr. J. A. Allen states that he found this species, or its western representative, a 

 common summer resident in Salt Lake Valley ; it was breeding on the islands in 

 great numbers. At the period of his visit these birds spent much of their time on 

 the sandbars of Weber River, and at certain hours of the day rose in the air to 

 feast on the grasshoppers, on which they seemed at this time almost wholly to subsist. 



