LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN DIVING BIRDS. 223 
was preparing, Kalutunah amused himself with tearing off the birds’ skins 
and consuming the raw flesh while it was yet warm. 
Winter—Although large numbers of dovekies migrate as far south 
as the coasts of New England a great many spend the winter near the 
edge of the Arctic ice pack, off the coasts of Labrador and New- 
foundland, on the Atlantic Ocean, and even in southern Greenland. 
They leave their northernmost breeding grounds about the first or 
second week in September and work slowly southward as cold 
weather advances, reaching the New England coast in November. 
They are generally common and sometimes abundant on the Maine 
coast in winter, but south of the neighborhood of Massachusetts Bay 
they are rare, or irregular in appearance. While with us in winter 
they ordinarily spend their time out on the open sea, several miles 
from land, skimming over the tops of the waves or swimming about 
singly or in little groups; they are more often seen in the vicinity 
of sunken ledges or about little rocky islets than off the sandy shores 
of Cape Cod. In stormy weather they are often driven in near the 
beaches or even into harbors, creeks, and rivers. There are numer- 
ous instances on record where these little sea birds have been driven 
far inland and have perished from hunger and exhaustion. Mr. 
William Brewster (1906) relates his recollections of a memorable 
flight of this kind “which inundated eastern Massachusetts on 
November 15, 1871,” which probably “comprised nearly, if not 
quite all, the birds which were living at that time off our coast.” 
On the date just named a violent easterly storm, accompanied by tor- 
rents of rain and an exceptionally high tide, forced’multitudes of dovekies to 
seek refuge in the fresh-water ponds and rivers near the coast, and many 
birds were picked up in an exhausted condition in fields, meadows, barnyards, 
and even in our city streets. Within the area to which this paper relates they 
appeared in the greatest numbers in Charles River between Cambridge and 
Waltham, in the Mystic Ponds, and in Fresh Pond. The sheet of water last 
named was visited by hundreds, which came in singly or by twos and threes, 
-and occasionally in flocks of from 10 or a dozen to 30 or 40 individuals each. 
The larger flocks often rose und left the pond, when disturbed, but the single 
birds, although somewhat restless, were absurdly tame. Some of them were 
taken alive, others killed with oars, and very many shot by collectors or 
sportsmen, 50 or more being captured in all. 
DISTRIBUTION. 
Breeding range—Coasts and islands of the north Atlantic and 
Arctic Oceans. Baffin Land, Ellesmere Land, northern Greenland 
(Disco Island, Cape York, and Kane Basin), northern Iceland (Isle 
of Grimsey), Spitzbergen, Franz Josef Land, and Nova Zembla. 
' Often ranges north in summer to latitude 81° or 82°. Has been re- 
corded in July in 77° north, 151 east (near Bennett Islands), near 
