BIRDS, 57 



free from snow and ice, dating from the 15th to 25th of May. At this season they wander in com- 

 pany with the Arctic Tern, but the last of May or first of June they congregate about the parts of 

 the marshes selected for their nesting ground. 



Their food throughout the season consists of sticklebacks at times, but mainly of such small 

 larvae and crustaceans as occur in brackish ponds. 



The feet and legs of the adults are black, but are frequently mottled with light patches, as are 

 the feet of Stercorarius. 



The eggs are rarely deposited earlier than on June 5, and generally some days later. 



The first young are on the wing about the 15th to 20th of July, and they are very common by 

 the 10th of August. 



As August draws to a close, young and old forsake the marshes to a great extent, and the rest 

 of the season are found scattered along the coast feeding at the water-line on the beaches. On a 

 number of occasions I have mistaken the young of the year of these gulls for plover or other 

 waders as they sought their food along rocky beaches. In such cases they run out with each retir- 

 ing wave and back before the incoming one with all the agility of a wader. 



A young of the year taken August 24 measured 13 inches in total length by 32.5 in spread of 

 wings. Its iris was hazel; bill dark bluish horn color along culmen; fleshy horn color along 

 gape and base of lower mandible; feet and legs dull livid flesh color. 



Toward the end of September they become more and more scarce until only a comparatively 

 small number are found at the beginning of October, but the last ones remain until the 8th or 

 10th of this month, and these birds are usually young of the year. 



Sabine's Gull has a single harsh, grating, but not loud note, very similar to the grating cry 

 of the Arctic Tern, but somewhat harsher and shorter. When wounded and pursued or captured 

 it utters the same note in a much higher and louder key, with such a grating file-like intensity 

 that one feels like stopping his ears. It has the same peculiar clicking interruptions which are 

 so characteristic of the cry of a small bat held in the hand. A low, chattering modification of this 

 is heard at times as the birds gather about the border of a favorite pool, or float gracefully in 

 company over the surface of some grassy-bordered pond. The same note, in a higher key, serves 

 as a note of alarm and curiosity as they circle overhead or fly off when disturbed. When one of 

 these gulls is brought down the others of its kind hover over it, but show less devotion than is 

 usually exhibited by the terns. 



On June 13, 1880, about 20 miles from Saint Michaels, while egging in company with some 

 Eskimo, we found a pond some 200 yards across, in the middle of which were two small islands. 

 A gunshot caused at least one hundred of these gulls to rise like a white cloud over the islet, 

 and showed us that we had found a breeding place. As we stood on the shore a few birds 

 came off, and circling close about us for a few moments, but rarely making any outcry, returned 

 to the island, where the others had already settled again and appeared to be sitting upon 

 the ground. The water of the lake we found to be about waist-deep, under which lay a solid bed 

 of ice of unknown depth. 



The smallest island lay nearest, and sending one of my men out to it he found a set of two eggs 

 of fhe Black-throated Loon, one set of the Arctic Tern's eggs, and two of Sabine's Gull. Proceed- 

 ing to the next island he found a set of Aythya marila nearctica eggs as he stepped ashore, and a mo- 

 ment later cried out that the ground was covered with gulls' eggs. At the same time he answered 

 with chattering teeth that the water in the lake was very cold. Having never seen the nest 

 of this gull I called my man back and he transported me upon his back to the island after nar- 

 rowly escaping several falls on the way. The island was very low, and the driest spots were but 

 little above the water. Built on the driest places were twenty-seven nests, containing from one to 

 three eggs each, and as many others just ready for occupancy. Four or five nests were frequently 

 placed within 2 or 3 feet of each other. In about one-half the cases the eggs were laid upon 

 the few grass blades the spot afforded with no alteration save a slight depression made by the 

 bird's body. In the majority of the other nests a few grass blades and stems had been arranged 

 circularly about the eggs, and in the remainder only enough material had been added to afford 

 the merest apology for a nest. 

 S. Mis. 156 8 



