438 THEOUGH THE MACKENZIE BASIN 



62. Sabine's GtUll — Xema sabinii (Sabine). 



Quite a large number of nests of this beautiful gull were 

 found on the seaehores of Eranklin Bay, and a few eggs 

 were also received from the Eskimos of Liverpool Bay. 

 Several birds were shot at the former point. On the first 

 of July, 1864, we knocked over three out of a flock of sixty 

 which came circling over our encampment. They then 

 gracefully retired to and alighted in a pool of water at a 

 safe distance. One of the three, having been merely stunned, 

 soon recovered, and after two ineffectual attempts made by 

 one of our Indian collectors to choke her, she again revived, 

 and as I thought she had well earned her liberty I set her free. 

 She flew away slowly towards her friends, who no doubt 

 welcomed her with demonstrations of great joy, judging from 

 the noise they made. After a few minutes they all took 

 their departure, probably to their breeding-grounds. 



Sir John Richardson has recorded that they breed on 

 low islands off the west coast of Greenland, and westward 

 to Melville Peninsula, Polar Ocean, latitude 75° 30' north. 



Nothing in the Ottawa Museum under this heading! 



71. Arctic Teen — Sterna paradiscea Brunn. 



This bird is equally common with tern No. 70, and we 

 might easily have made a considerable collection of eggs 

 from various localities throughout the Anderson Elver region. 

 Neither species, however, approve of a close proximity of 

 man to their nests. Eichardson states that they breed very 

 abundantly on the shores of Melville Peninsula and on the 

 islands and beaches of the Arctic Sea. 



The Dominion Museum at Ottawa contains two skins taken 

 on Sable Island, N.S., August 16th, 1899 ; also one set of 

 eggs from the Labrador coast, procured from Mr. Eaine ; one 

 from Oape Prince of Wales, and another egg from Eepulse 

 Bay taken by Mr. Guy in 1896. In July, 1894, Dr. Klotz, 

 Astronomer of the Department of the Interior, took a nest 



