CHICAGO ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 
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wings in rising or falling are kept perfectly stiff; and folded, only when 
the bird is settled in tlie water, seemingly as a job by itself. When half 
folded the wings form a triangular arch over the back, which looks very 
awkward in a bird. They will remain in the air sometimes five minutes 
without moving the wings in fligl>t, though they do not remain at the 
same height, but slide from side to side, like a sheet of paper, falling 
slowly. They have two ways of alighting. One is to fly against the 
wind, with the wings stiff extended, and the feet spread and stuck out 
in front, and going into the water at an angle very obtuse. Tiie out- 
spread web-feet soon check their speed. The other way is to stretch 
out the legs stiff, and at full length, behind, and to tip over into the water 
backwards, on their posteriors, exactly as if they were sitting down 
on a chair, and somebody had pulled the chair away. They rest very 
calmly on the water when once settled, and swim slowly and laboriously. 
I have never seen them nearer land than the Farralones, and suppose they 
breed on rocky islets off the northern coast. It seems singular that 
there should be no gulls, terns, albatrosses, or even, except very rarely, 
petrels, in the eastern part of the North Pacific Ocean. D. 
172. FtUmarus Rodgersi Cas. (638a.) St. George's Fulmar. 
Abundant at the Island of St. George's, where Capt Smith and myself 
obtained specimens. (See Prof. Baird's paper.) D. 
173. Thalassidfoma Leachii Teram. (642.) Petrel. Obtained 
abundantly by Bischoff at Sitka. The specimens were more rusty-col- 
ored than is usual with this sjjecies. D. 
174. Nectris tennirostris Temm. (651.) Seal bird. This bird — a 
badly-prepared, but perfect skin — was bought of Isaac Koliak, an 
Eskimo of great intelligence. He said he had bought it as a curiosity, 
at Kotzebue Sound, when on a visit, never having seen such a bird on 
Norton Sound. He gave a yard of cotton for it; and the Kotzebue 
Sound Eskimo told him that it was called the MuMok thigmyuk, or 
seal bird, as it was only found with the seal, and followed them in their 
migrations. D. 
175. Stercorarius parasiticus Temm. (654.) Arctic Skua. Obtained 
at Kadiak by Bischoff. Common on the Yukon, as far up as Nulato. 
Plentiful at the Yukon mouth. The natives and Russians have many 
absurd and superstitious notions connected with the yagers, and call 
them rasbinik, or murderer bird, and say they eat berries ! 
I never saw it alight except on the water or smooth beach. They are 
said to lay on the beach, like the gulls, but I did not obtain the eggs. 
The long feathers of the tail differ much in length, often in the same 
individual. The iris is dark brown. These birds are very swift on the 
wing. D- 
Less abundant than Sterc. Buffoni, but still common. According to 
my observation, it is also rather more shy. 
