BIRDS OF ?s^ORTHEEX CANADA 437 



1865. Very rare in Canadian continental territory. But in 

 course of Captains Sir John Boss's and Sir Edward Parry's 

 first Arctic exploratory voyages, many specimens of this gull 

 ^ere obtained in Davis Strait, Baffin Bay and at Melville 

 Island. This species is far less common in Cumberland 

 Gulf than the glaucoois guU. On the Greenland coast, how- 

 ever, it is said to be the most common except the kittiwake. 

 There are neither skins nor eggs thereof in the Ottawa col- 

 lection. 



53. Califoexia Gull — Larus calif omicus Laurence. 



Quite a number of specimens with eggs were received 

 from the Lower Anderson Eskimos, and one or two nests were 

 also found on the margin of small lakes in the vicinity of 

 the Fort. According to Mr. B. E. Ross this species was 

 abundant on Great Slave Lake. Also found along the coast 

 of Vancouver Island, B.C., and it breeds in the interior of 

 that Province. The Ottawa Museum does not possess a 

 single specimen egg or bird of this species. 



55. Shoet-billed Gull — Larus hrachyrhynchus 

 (Richardson). 



More numerous and widely diffused than the three pre- 

 ceding species (ISTos. 53, 51a and 43). Its nest is usually 

 a small cavity in the sand by the side of a running stream 

 or pond of water, but it also frequently builds on a stump 

 or tree, and in such cases small dry twigs, hay and moss are 

 used in its construction. A goodly number of birds and 

 eggs were collected at Fort Anderson. The parents did their 

 very utmost to drive away intruders. On one occasion in 

 the " Barrens " we wounded a male which a female Stercor- 

 arius parasiticus set upon as he fell into the water, evidently 

 with no friendly intentions. But another shot killed both. 

 The Ottawa Museum has a fine pair of skins taken in Vic- 

 toria Harbour, B.C., in January, 1896, by Mr. John Tannin, 

 but no e^s. 



