LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN PETRELS AND PELICANS. 275 



skins were formerly used for clothing and their nuptial crests and 

 plumes served as ornaments. Mr. L. M. Turner (1886) writes: 



During severe weather of the winter and fall these birds resort to the high 

 rocky ledges or the single rocks which jut from the sea. Some of the rocks are 

 fairly covered with these hirds, and these appearing like a lot of black bottles 

 standing on the rock. The natives of all parts of the country use the flesh of 

 this bird for food. Some of the Aleuts, especially those of Attu, prize the flesh 

 more than any other bird. They formerly obtained many of these birds with 

 a kind of net which was thrown over the birds when sitting on the shore rocks, 

 being driven there by the severity of a storm, so that the birds could not remain 

 on the outer rocks without being washed off. 



Winter.— Mr. W. H. Kobbe (1900) writing of the winter habits of 

 this species near Cape Disappointment, Washington, says : 



The violet-green cormorant is only found upon the cape during the winter 

 months, when it is very abundant. It arrives in the fall and departs rather 

 late in the spring. During its stay upon the cape it associates with the white- 

 crested cormorant, and the two species may often be seen perched upon the 

 flsh-trap poles in large flocks. Both species frequently fly into the fish pots 

 from which they are unable to escape ,since they are unable to fly vertically 

 upward. It is an easy matter for the birds to fly from the poles downward 

 into the square pot formed of netting, but after they once get in they are 

 forced to remain and are generally killed by the fishermen. 



niSTEIBUTION. 



Breeding range. — Coasts and islands of Bering Sea and northern 

 Pacific Ocean. From Norton Sound (Sledge Island) and St. Law- 

 rence Island southward along the coast to southern Alaska (For- 

 rester Island) and perhaps farther. Westward throughout the 

 Aleutian Islands and Commander Islands. Southward through the 

 Kurile Islands to Japan (Yezzo). Northward along the Asiatic 

 coast of Bering Sea to northeastern Siberia (East Cape) and west- 

 ward on the Arctic coast of Siberia to Cape Irkaipij, Cape Kibera 

 Island and Koliutschin Island. Seen in summer and may breed in 

 Kotzebue Sound. Birds breeding near the south end of Vancouver 

 Island are probably referable to resplendens. Breeding grounds pro- 

 tected in the following reservations : In Alaska, Bering Sea, Pribilof , 

 Aleutian Islands, St. Lazaria, and Forrester Island. 



Winter range. — From the Aleutian, Pribilof, and Commander 

 Islands southward throughout the remainder of the breeding range 

 and beyond it south to Puget Sound and to China. 



Spring migration. — Arrives in northeastern Siberia, Gichiga, as 

 early as May 13, in Norton Sound, Alaska, by June 5, and at St. 

 Lawrence Island, June 2. 



Fall migration. — Leaves northeastern Siberia about the second 

 week in October and Norton Sound, Alaska, in October or November. 



Casual records. — ^Taken at Point Barrow, Alaska, June 8, 1898. 



