ULOtflST 
\ T D — 
GIST. 
STER, PUBLISHER. 
March, 1875. 
Single Copy 
10 Cents. 
FEBRUARY, 1887. 
No. 2. 
An Ornithologist* s Summer in Labrador 
M. Abbott Frazar. 
Earns marinus , Great Black-backed Gull. 
Quite common everywhere, but the least gie- 
garious of any of the gulls; for I seldom found 
more than a half dozen pair breeding on the 
same island, and a small island of not over a 
couple of acres, would seldom have more than 
a couple of pairs on it. The nests were built 
of dry stalks of grasses; were very bulky and 
deeply hollowed; were also placed, as a rule, 
upon some high spot on the island, so the bird 
could have a clear view for some distance. I 
found no clutches of over three eggs, and after 
they have been robbed once or twice they are 
more apt to lay two than three. The eggs on 
an average, are considerably larger than a Her¬ 
ring Gull’s, and the shell is coarser and lacks 
any gloss. The spots are also inclined to run 
much larger and fewer in number, and about 
five per cent of the eggs taken were of a pale 
blue ground color, with none, or a very few 
dark spots on them. As soon as the young are 
a few days old they leave the nest and secrete 
themselves among the rocks or paddle about 
among the islands, always under the watchful 
eye of their parents far over head. I quite of¬ 
ten used to row up on to young birds some dis¬ 
tance from the shore, when they would sink 
down into the water showing but very little of 
their heads, and try to get away, but if pursued 
they would come to the surface and put in the 
best they knew how. That was always the sig¬ 
nal for the approach of the old birds, and so I 
had no difficulty in procuring what specimens 
I wished, although it is what might be consid¬ 
ered a very shy bird. Another way I had of 
getting them was to shoot down a Herring 
Gull, which would generally bring them about. 
During the breeding season they feed veiy 
largely upon the eggs of other birds, and upon 
young Eider Ducks. They will take a Murre 
egg, grasp it in the centre with their bill, and 
without breaking the two ends apart, they will 
I orus h in the sides and secure the contents. 
I They must do it skilfully, as I never saw any 
j part of an egg spilt on the rocks, nor did I ever 
see a gull’s plumage stained with it either. 
They catch young Eiders in this way; two or 
three gulls will hover over a brood in the water, 
which of course confuses the mother duck and 
scatters the brood in all directions. Then by 
following the ducklings after each dive they 
would soon tire them out, and a skilfully di¬ 
rected blow at the base of the skull, which sel¬ 
dom missed its aim, would in an instant finish 
the business, and before the unhappy duck 
would know which way to turn its brood would 
be one less. On several occasions I have seen 
the mother duck drawn several feet in the air, 
by clinging to the gull as it dove for its prey, 
and several times I have seen a venturesome 
“Black-back” get knocked over with a charge 
of shot, when he happened to get too interested 
in his pursuit and allow of my too close ap¬ 
proach. 
Their eggs are very nice eating, nearly as 
good as aMurre’s and far superior to a hen’s. 
Quite often they were served to me at meals, 
but it almost made my heart ache to break one, 
however, I could not say anything for fear of 
giving away their value. The young, just af tei 
having left the down, are delicious eating.. But 
the old birds are the most rapacious things I 
ever saw. An incident which happened, just 
occurs to me. I was anxious to get some spec¬ 
imens of the Common Cormorant, quite a col¬ 
ony of which lived on some very high cliffs on 
the point of Cape Whittle, and as the cliffs were 
very high, and this species bred only along 
Copyright, 1887, by F. H. Cai|ifenter and F. B. Webster. 
