24 
the Gulf of Alaska and in the Bering Sea south of winter 
ice advance, are believed to move randomly from colonies 
and assume a pelagic existence in winter, usually over the 
continental shelf, with some birds moving into the pro- 
tected waters of southern Alaska (Gabrielson and Lincoln 
1959). In the southern Bering Sea, winter populations as- 
sociated with the ice edge have been described as having 
the greatest densities of any throughout the murres’ winter 
range (Shuntov 1972; Divoky 1977), and are probably 
composed chiefly of birds breeding throughout the Bering 
Sea. However, a substantial population of Bering Sea 
breeders do not winter in the area but migrate through 
Unimak Pass into the Gulf of Alaska each fall (Gill et al. 
LOFO). 
Tufted Puffin 
The tufted puffin, like most alcids, has no well-defined 
migration (Gill et al. 1979). Instead, it disperses over the 
open ocean, usually off the continental shelf in the south- 
ern Bering Sea and oceanic areas south of Alaska, after 
breeding (Dement’ev et al. 195lc; Shuntov 1972; Sowls 
et al, 1978; Gill et al. 1979). The species is resident except 
in the areas north of the Aleutians, from which it with- 
draws to the south (Gabrielson and Lincoln 1959). 
Summary 
Seabirds indicate on a broad scale that Alaskan waters, 
and its marine fauna, are evidently contaminated with 
organochlorine pollutants. However, more specific infor- 
mation concerning migration, food, and physiology of 
these species and the occurrence of organochlorines in food 
organisms is needed to indicate pollution relationships for 
local areas. The widespread occurrence of DDE and 
PCB’s in the environment, including remote areas of the 
arctic and antarctic, has been documented previously. In 
addition to those compounds, we found a broad array of 
other organochlorines in eggs of Alaskan seabirds. This 
finding indicates that Alaskan seabirds are exposed to these 
chemicals, probably through their food, and that the 
chemicals are probably not uniformly distributed in the 
areas we sampled or in those used by these seabirds in 
winter. 
Acknowledgments 
We appreciate the assistance of the many cooperators 
(listed in Appendix I) who helped collect eggs for this 
study. Many individuals in the Patuxent Wildlife Research 
Center’s Environmental Residue Chemistry Project helped 
in analyzing the samples. We also appreciate the assist- 
ance of R. A. Dyrland, J. P. Hughes, and R. D. McArthur 
in preparing the samples for analysis. G. L. Hensler wrote 
or modified computer programs and provided useful sug- 
gestions relative to statistical treatment and interpretation 
of data. T. J. Fergin and J. P. Hughes assisted in perform- 
ing the statistical analyses, and A. M. Bakker helped in 
preparing the tables. G. A. Sanger provided information 
on food of Alaskan birds and reviewed a preliminary draft 
of that section. P. J. Gould supplied unpublished reports 
on seabird migration and distribution. The U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service provided records of bandings and re- 
coveries for species we studied. L. J. Blus and S. N. Wie- 
meyer reviewed the manuscript and offered useful sugges- 
tions. 
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