66 BULLETIN 107, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 
Mr. N. A. Sarudny (1912), who described the Asiatic bird under 
the name Urinator arcticus suschkini, claims that the Asiatic bird is 
smaller and has a shorter bill than the European. Perhaps, if we 
had more material for study, we might be able to confirm his views; 
moreover, we should naturally expect to find the Asiatic bird inter- 
mediate in all characters between the European and the American 
birds; but, strangely enough, the largest bird we have seen, with a 
bill measuring 2.87 and a wing measuring 13 inches, was taken at 
St. Michael, Alaska; it is referable to a new Asiatic form, Gavia viri- 
digularis Dwight, and was probably a straggler from Siberia. 
The color characters are equally unsatisfactory, or more so. Mr. 
Sarudny (1912) separates his Asiatic bird from the European bird 
on several color characters, which are very variable and which, at 
best, make this bird only intermediate between the European 
and American birds. With what scanty material we have in this 
country to study, it would be unwise to express an opinion, at this 
time, on the validity of the two Asiatic subspecies. The Asiatic bird, 
viridigularis, apparently, sometimes wanders to northwestern Alaska 
on migrations; it may occasionally breed in the vicinity of Norton 
Sound. So, if we are to recognize this bird as distinct from the 
European, it is apparently the former and not the latter which be- 
longs on the American list. 
The European bird, Gavia arctica arctica (Linnaeus) seems to 
have no standing as an American bird. I have been unable to find an 
American specimen which I could identify as arctica; all the 
specimens which I have been able to locate, taken in eastern North 
America, are either typical pacijica or are nearer that than anything 
else. Numerous records are based on erroneous identifications of 
immature common loons, Gavia immer. For further information re- 
garding all the American records that we could trace, I would refer 
the reader to a recent paper on the subject by my assistant, My. F. 
Seymour Hersey (1917). 
I have therefore no reason for including the life history of the 
European bird in this work. So little is known about the distribu- 
tion and habits of the Asiatic bird that I shall not attempt to write 
a fragmentary story, which probably would not differ materially 
from what I have written about the Pacific loon. 
DISTRIBUTION. 
Breeding range-—Northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere, 
chiefly (if not entirely) confined to Europe and Asia. East to north- 
eastern Siberia (Chaun Bay; Cape Bolohaja, Baranov; and Gichiga 
and Marcova, Anadyr district). Southern limits poorly defined. 
Probably south to Japan and eastern Prussia. Westtothe British Isles 
(northern Scotland, the Outer Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland Is- 
