BIRDS. 53 



Laeus GLAUCESCENS Naum. Glaucous- winged Gull (Esk. Ku-Mzh-U-wuli). 



During May, 1877, these birds were abuudant about TJnalaska and 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 cliffs, 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 May 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 barrovianus or leucopterus. 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 abundant resident species, 

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

 Kyska early in July. From the same author I quote the following interesting notes. 



The habit of this and other species in breeding on isolated rocks and small islands, is accounted for by the immu- 

 nity thus gained from the ravages of foxes on the eggs and young brood. 



On the 2d of June, 1872, many eggs in a pretty fresh condition were obtained on the Chioa Rooks and islets in the 

 Akntan Pass. The eggs were very abundant, more than three being rarely found together, and were laid on almost 

 any little depression of the ground, with little or no attempt at a, lining. About the 18th of July, on the Shumagins, 

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

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

 from the dead grass naturally occurring in tho'depressions, or otherwise, all of them had more or less dry grass in and 

 about them. The gulls built solely on the top of the highest part of the island, in the grass, and never on 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 and 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 and most broken outline, the locations 

 described by Mr. Dall being exceptions to the rule. All about the coasts and 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 leucopterus. The habits of these two 

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

 distinguished until very near or unless the two chance to be side by side. We have no record of 

 its occurrence in 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, 

 leucopterits having its center of abundauce along the northern shores of Bering Sea, and barro- 

 vianus north of the straits. In winter the two latter frequent the Aleutian chain, while many of 

 the glaucescens move south. 



Lartjs nelsoni Hensh. 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 unique. Its resemblance 

 to several of the larger gulls is likely to keep us in 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 in Eeport of the Inter- 

 national Polar Expedition, 1885, p. 123, under L. Tcumlieni, is too immature, as Mr. Eidgway now in- 

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

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



Larus schistisagxjs Stejn. Slaty-backed Gull. 



In September, 1880, 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 Islands, in Bering Straits, 

 and is in the National Museum collection. 



