CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 47 



XXIV. XEMA Leach. 1819 

 '62. Sabine's Gull. Fork-tailed Giill. 



Xema sabitni (Sab.) Leach. 1819. 



Said not to breed further south in Greenland than Lat. 75° 30' 

 N. ; also common at Sabine Island, Melville Bay, Lat. 75° 30' 

 N. {Arct. Man.) Occasional as far south along the Labrador 

 coast as Cow Head, Newfoundland. (Reeks.) 



Quite a large number of nests were found on the shores of 

 Franklin Bay, and a few eggs were also received from the Esqui- 

 mo of Liverpool Bay on the Arctic coast. (Macfarlane.) Breed- 

 ing on low islands off the west coast of Greenland and westward 

 to Melville Peninsula. {Richardson.) Found breeding abundantly 

 in the low grounds between St. Michael and Bristol Bay, Alaska. 

 {Turner.) This gull is especially numerous along the Alaskan 

 coast from the Kuskoquim mouth to Kotzebue Sound, and occurs 

 in small numbers at St. Lawrence Island. (Nelson.) 



Breeding Notes. — On June 13th, 1880, about twenty miles 

 from St. Michael 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 gun-shot 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. On going to the largest 

 island my Eskimo called out that the ground was covered 

 with gull's eggs. The Eskimo found the water waist deep and 

 jinder it a solid bed of ice of unknown depth. He carried me 

 over on his back, as I desired to see the nests of these birds, 

 never having seen them. The island was very low, and the 

 driest spots were but a little above the water. Built on the 

 driest places were twenty-seven nests, containing from one to 

 three eggs each, and as many others ready for occupancy. Four 

 or five nests were frequently placed within two or three feet of 

 each other. In about one half the cases the eggs were laid 

 upon the few grass-blades the spot afforded, with no alterations 

 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. (Nelson.) 



