TOON

BIRDS.

87

sliore atlowtide; were very

commou

^{in all} the localities thatI visited on

Cumberland

Island.

Saw

a good

many

on theGreenland coast. It is saidthat

some

remain inthe fjordsofSouth Greenlandallwinter.

They

seemcompletely devoidof Itar,

and

can almost be caught with the hands.

Although

such lovers of therockysea-shore,they nest on theborders of fresh-water lakes.

Hundreds

were breedingafew miles fromour winter harbor,butit

was

impossible to reach the mainland on account of the treacherous condition ofthe floating- ice.

The

specimens collected

by me

on

Cumberland

Island differso

much

fromtheAlaskan, thatI conjecturethe probability of a westernvariety

when

a seriescan bebrought togetherforcomparison.

By

thelatter daysof

June

veryfewwereto

be

seenon thesea-shore, theyhaving-gone inlandto breed.

They

apj)ear verysociable,

and when

a large flock is togetherthey keep

up

a livcl}' twitter,

by

no

means

unxjleasant.

As

the breeding season approaches, themales

have

apeculiarcry,resembling-

somewhat

that ofAct^ifur us hartramius,but lower

and

not so prolonged.

When

thisnote isuttered they

assume

avery dignified strut,

and

often raise the wings

up

over the

back and

slowlyfold

them

again,liketheupland plover. After the breedingseason

commences

very fewareseenonthe sea-shoretillthe

young

arefull-grown.

They

are

somewhat

crepuscular in their habits.

37. Tringa subarquata, (Gould)Temm.

Not uncommon

ⁱⁿ North Greenland.

Eggs

were procured at Chris- tianshaab,Greenland,through thekindness ofGovernor

Edgar

Fencker.

Not

observed on

any

jjartof

Cumberland

that I visited.

38. Tringa canutus,Liund.

A

^{small flockliton} the schooner's deckin

November

aftertheharbor

was

frozenover.

Saw

noneinthe spring orsummer.

Seem

tobequite

•common

in North Greenland, but probably do not nest south of lat.

41. Totanusmelanoleucus, (Gm.)Vicill.

A

^singlespecimen

on

Arctic Island,

Cumberland

Sound, September

14, 1877.

42. Numeniusborealis,(Forst.) Lath.

A

^{fewflocks seen passing} northward ui>

Kiugwah

Fjord in June.

One

specimenprocured.

Not

noticed in autumn.

Well

kno,wntothe

Cumberland

Eskimo.

43. Grus f(probably fraterculus).

Quite

common

in

some

localities. Breeds in

Kingwah and

Kingnit^;

Fjords in Cumberland, in Exeter Sound,

and Home Bay

on the west coast of Davis Straits.

Common,

especiallyduring spring, at

Godhavn.

44. Cygnus ^?

Swans

occasionallyoccurintheSouthern

Cumberland

waters; butthe species is uncertain, as Icould not j)rocurea specimen. Saidtobe of regularoccurrenceinthe

Lake Kennedy

region.

45. Anseralbifrons, \ ar. gambeli, (Hart.)Coues.

Not

observedin

any numbers

about ourwinter harbor, butundoubt- edly occurs in

abundance on

the fresh-waterlakes. This is probably thegoose that the

Eskimo

takein such great

numbers

at

Lake Kennedy, where

they drive

them

towards the sea-coast while they arein moult.

Are common

on the Greenlandcoastto 72° N. lat.,

and

probably

much

farther. Largeflocks were

met

with

on

the pack-ice in themiddleof Davis Straits,July24, 25,

and

26.

Eggs

were procuredinthe

Godhaven

district in Greenland.

The

skin of the breastis sometimesused

by

the

Eskimo

forunder-garments.

46. Anser hyperboreus,Pall.

Appears

toberare

and

migratoryinthe

Cumberland

waters.

Saw

a few specimensinearlyspring

and

lateautumn.

47. Brantahutchiusii,Sw.

A

^singlespecimen procured

June

10in

Kingwah

Fjord.

The Eskimo who

killed itsaid he has seen

many

to the southward of

Nugumeut^.

Saw

no

Canada

geeseat

any

timeduring

my

stay.

48.

Anas

boschas,Liuu.

" Kaertooluk," Greenlanders.

Not

observedinCumberland,

and unknown

totheEskimo.

Not

rare

on

the Greenland coast as far north as Upernavik.

The

fleshof this

duck

on the coast of Greenland is scarcelyfit to eat, being almostas rankas aloon's.

BIRDS.

89

49. Bucephala ?

Flocks of whistlers were observed onthree occasions in

May

; but ^I could notwith certainty identifythe species,as none were killed. B.

islandica is quite

common

in the

Godhavn

district on the coast of Greenland; breeds near Christianshaab.

50. Histrionicus torquatus, (Liuu.)Bp.

"Tornauiartook,"Greeiilanders.

Three examples seen,

and

one killedatAnnanactook. l^ot

uncom- mon

inthe

Godhavn

district onthe Greenland coast.

51. Harelda glacialis, (Liuu.)Leacli.

"Agiugak," CumLerlaudEskimo. "Aglek,"Greeiilanders.

Arrived at the

head

of

Cumberland

during the latter days of

May.

As

soon as there

was

extensive open water they

became

quite numer- ous,

and

theirloud

and

incessantcriescouldbe heardat

any

hourout of the twenty-four.

They

nest onthe smallrockyislands, especiallyabout theGreater

Kingwah

Fjord, but singly,

and

not in colonies.

They

arii

gregarious

when

theyfirstarrive,but soonpair

and

scatter.

Common

on thewhole Greenland coast,

and

breed far to the north. These ducks are thenoisiestbirds fortheir sizeI

have

ever met.

During

the breed- ing plumage, scarcely

any two

males can be found that are precisely alike.

52. Polystictastelleri, (Pall.)Eyton.

A

beautifuladultmale

was

shot in Disko FjordinAugust,1878.

The

specimenis

now

in the collection of Governor

Edgar

Fencker of God- havn.

During

thetime

we

were blockaded

by

theice-jam atAnnanac- took Harbor, in Cumberland, I

saw

three or four of these eiders.

At

one timea superb specimen sat for hours on acake of ice but a short distancefromthe ship;butIcould not reachiton accountofthe break- ingice. Iwatched

him

a long time with agood glass,

and

thereis no question of its Identity. Inlate

autumn

I

saw some

thatIthinkwere of this species.

53. Somateria moUissima,(Linu.)Leach.

"Metuk," CumberlandEskimo. "Mettek" aud"Amaulik,"Grcenlanders.

Thiseiderisone of the

commonest

birds inCumberland,

and

theonly speciesthatcongregates togetherin

any

considerable

numbers

tobreed.

They

are at all times gregarious.

The

old males separate from the females

and young

as soonasthebreeding seasonis over,

and

assemble

by

themselves in large flocks.

They

also migrate southward

much

earlier tliau the females

and

yoimg. During' the

autumn

of 1877

we

procured aboutseventy of thesebirds; butnot a^singleadult male

was

shot or even seen.

They

were

met

with in large flocks atsea off the outer islands on the east coast of Hall's Laud; here I also

remarked

that they

seemed

to beallmales.

As

soon as there is

any

open water they arefound in spring; stillthey were not

common

at

Aunanactook

tilltlielatter daysof

May. Eskimos

from thesouth reported

them

on thefloe edge nearNiantilic early in

May, and

I

saw

afew on aniceberg-

near the Middliejuacktwack Islands on the 30th of April.

They

can stand almost

any

temperature if they can tind open water. I

saw

one adultmale in the tide riftsof theGreater

Kingwah

in January.

The day

I

saw him

^it

was —

50° F.; buthe proved too lively forme.

The Eskimo

could

have

procured

him

on different occasions; butthey

had some

.superstitious notion regarding so unusual an occiuTence,

and would

not killit.

Ill the fall of 1877 I often found broods still unable to fly, though

more

thanthree-fourths grown,as lateas themiddleof October. Small flockscontinued about the open tide-holes till ISTovember17.

At

this dateI killed six

young

males; the temperature

was —

^7° Fah,

They had

atthistime aboutfifty milestotheox)en water.

Their food in

autumn

consists almost entirely of mollusks. I have taken shellsfromthe cesophagus

more

than

two

inches inlength; from a single bird I have taken out forty-three shells, varying from one- sixteenth to

two

inches in length.

The

adult birds in spring did not

seem

to bequite so particular; in

them

Ifound almost all the

common

formsof marine invertebrates,

and

sometimes even afew fish {Liparis,

and

the

young

of Coitus ncorpius).

By

thefirst

week

ofelunetheyAvereabundant; enormous flocks

would

congregate on anice-field

and

holdhighcarnival. I

have watched

such gatheringswith agreat deal of interest.

When

thus assembled,

some

oldveteran

would make

himself conspicuous,

and

jabber

away

at a^ter- riblerate, often silencingthe greater portion of therest,

who

appeared to listen fora short time,

when

the entire

crowd would

break out, each one api)areutly expressing his or her opinion on the subject. There always

seemed

tobe the best of goodfeeling in those meetings, how- ever,

and

all points were apijarently settled to everyone's satisfaction.

I haveoften lain behind arockon theirbreeding-islands

and

watched

them

loralong time.

On

oneoccasion

we

disturbeda laige colony,

and

theducksallleftthe nests. Isent

my Eskimos away

toanotherisland,

BIRDS. ^• 9I

while I remained bebiucl to see

how

the ducks

would

act

when

they returned.

As

soonas the boat

was

gone they

began

to return to their nests,both males

and

females. It

was

very

amusing

toseeamalealight beside anest,

and

with a satisfied air settle himself

down

on theeggs,

when

suddenly afemale

would come

to the

same

nest and inform

him

thathe

had made

a mistake,

—

it

was

nothisnest.

He

startedup,looked blaiddy around, discoveredhismistake,

and

with an

awkward and

very ludicrous bow,accompanied with

some

suitableexplanation, I suppose, he waddledotf in search of his

own

home, where he found his faithful

mate

installed.

Now

followed

an

explanation that seemedtobe hugely enjoyed b}' all in the vicinity.

A

jjrettylively conversation

was

kept

xi-p, probably onthe purport of ourvisit, as they seemed

nmch

excited.

Icould spareno

more

timetowatch them,

and

creptoutfi-om

my

hiding- place intofull viewof all,

and

a look of greater disgust

and

astonish-

ment

than these birds gave

me

is difficult to imagine; they evidently regarded such

underhand work

beneath the dignity of a

human

being,

and

probably rated

me

worse than a gull or raven. So sudden

and

unexpected

was my

ap])earancethat

many

did not leave their nests,but hissed

and

squakedat

me

like geese; these

same

birds left theirnests before

when

the boat

was

withina quarter of a mileof the island.

The

first eggs were procured

June

21.

The

islands on which they nest arebut small.barren rocks, of an acre orless in extent,

and

often butafewfeet above high tide-mark. There are a fewpatches of

Poa

arctica

and

CocJileariaofficinalis scattered about,

and

these contain the greater

number

ofnests.

Each

nesthasalittlecircleofgreen sod about

it, which is

manured

every year

and

becomes quite luxuriant. These

mounds

aresometimesafoothigh

and

as

much

indiameter,having been used as a nest for

many

years in succession.

Very

little repairing is

necessarytofit the nest for the reception of theeggs,

—

^{merelya little}

grass or moss.

But

little

down

is usedtill thefullcomplementof eggs

islaid.

The

nests are often so close together that it is impossible to walk withoutstepping on them.

A

^nest seldomcontains

more

thanfive eggs, oftenthree orfour,

and

Inever

saw

as

many

as sixbut twice.

The

principalbreeding-placesin

Cumberland

arebetweenlat.00°

and

07° IsT.

The

lower of these places is about ten miles off shore from Mailukeitu; the greatest

number

ofbirds nesthere.

The

sevenislands tothe northward about twenty-fivemiles are favorite resorts; alsothe smallislands to the SE. ofAnnanactook. Thereis alsoagroup

known

HISTORY OF ARCTIC AMERICA.

tothe

Eskimo

asthe "Shutook" Islands,intheGreater

Kingwah,

where

1 found

them

extremely abundant. In the Mallukeitu Fjord, according to the Eskimo,is anothervery

much

frequented breeding-place, but I

didnotvisit it.

Thousands

ofeggs couldbe gathered onthese rocksdiu-ing thelatter part of

June and

the first three

weeks

ofJuly. Itseems to

me

thatit

would pay whalemen

to gather the

down

which can herebe securedin great quantities.

The

islands are so closetogether that theycould all

be

worked

within

two

daysof each other. There area great

many

^im-

maturebirds,bothmale

and

female, that donot breed5 they assemble inlarge flocks,

and

are often

met

with at considerable distances from land. I

have

found such flocks

commonly

in Cumberland,

on

thewest coast of Davis Straits

and

Baffin's Bay,

and

on the Greenland coast abundantly.

Many

large flocks were seen in the middle of Davis

Straits,

among

thepack-ice,inthe latterpart ofJuly.

During

the first

days of

August

I

saw immense

flocks of eiderson thewestern end of DiskoIsland, all males,flying southward.

The

specimenscollected

by me

in

Cumberland

present certain striking

and

remarkable points of difference from specimensfrom the SouthLabrador

and Newfoundland

coasts, especially intheform

and

size of^bill. I

had

prepared aseriesof skuUs,selectedfrom over

two hundred

birds,that

was

calculatedto

show

the variation

among

them; but, unfortunately, they were

among

the specimens that I

had

to leave behind, inthe unnecessaryhaste of our departure, of

which

I

was

givenbut a fewhours' warning.

These ducks are of great use to the

Eskimo

; theireggs are eagerly soughtafter

and

devoured in astonishing quantities.

The

birds them- selvesconstitute a

good

portion of their food at certain times,

and

the skins areusedfor aportion oftheirfoot-gear in winter,

and

sometimes forclothing.

We

foundthefleshof the

young

in

autumn

veryacceptable indeed; but the adults in spring wererather rank.

Some

specimens were procured thatweighed overfivepounds.

They become

extremely fat

by

theend ofJune;

and when an Eskimo

can get a number, hewill eatlittleelsebutthefat. I

was

oftensaved

much

labor

by

having

them

remove

thefatfromtheskins,which theydidwiththeir teeth,

and much

more

effectually than I could

have

done itwith a knife. Thesebirds suffer

much

from thedepredations of gulls

and

ravens. Larusglaucus even nests

among

the ducks,

and

theravenslive offtheeggs

and

duck- lingstheentire season.

BIRDS.

93

54. Somateriaspectabilis,(L.) Boie.

"Kiugalalik," CumberlandEskimo. "Siorakitsook" and "Kiugalik,"Greeu- landers.

The

king eiders werenot noticed till the 20th of June. I

saw

afew largeflocks at different timesduringspring; butthere werea

hundred

molUssimato one spectabilis.

They

appearto keep

by

themselves,

and

notto

mix

withmolUssima,at leastduringthebreeding season. I never

saw any

on the eider islands.

The Eskimo

say that

some

years they are very plenty

and

othersveryfeware found.

One Eskimo

told

me

that heoncefound

them

nestingin great

numbers some

distance upthe Greater

Kingwah,

but not in

company

with the

common

eider.

They

arrive later

and

leave earlier than molUssima. In JulyI

saw many

of these ducks, males

and

females, about

America

Harbor.

The

sexual organs of thoseIprocuredwere not develojied,

and

theywere allinthe

plumage

of the female. I suspected

them

to be such birds as were thached verylatetheprecedingseason.

Saw

agreat

many

in the

same plumage

onthewest coast of DavisStraits

and

around Disko Island

;

many

of the males

seemed

to be assuming tJie

plumage

of the adult.

Governor Fenckertold

me

that therewere alwaysagood

number

of these birds aroundin

summer

thatdidnotbreed.

Many

flocksofmale birds were noticedwest of Disko, all flying southward. Governor Fencker has procuredidentified eggs ofthis

duck

atUpernavik

by

shooting the parenton the nest.

They

are very

common

around Disko,but breed farther north. Ishotahalf-grown

young

in

Kingwah

FjordinOctober, 1877.

The

lumj) of fat at the base of the bill of the adult males is

esteemed a greatdelicacy with the Eskimo,

and

it isvery seldomthey bring one backthatdoes nothavethis choicetit-bitremoved.

55. CBdemia ?

From

theMiddleLabrador coast north to lat. G7°,I

saw

at different times largescoters, butcould notidentifythespecies.

Iwillhere

make

mentionofa

duck

thatI

saw

on

two

orthreeoccasions.

Itseemed to have the size

and

general

make-up

of a scoter,but

had

much

whiteon the scapulars

and

aboutthe head.

A duck was winged

by

one of theship'sofficers; hesaidit

had

awhite ringaround theneck

and

therestofthe

body was

nearlj^ all black.

The

bu'd thatI

saw was

unknown

to

me;

it

may

j)ossibly have been the Camptolwmus lahra- dorius. I find in

my

notes that the first one^I

saw was

pronounced a partiallyalbinoscoter; but,seeing

more

just

hke

it,Igavethis theorj^ up.

56. Mergusserrator,Linn6.

"Pye,"or"Pajk,"CumberlandEskimo audGrcenlauders.

A

regular breeder in Cumberland, but notvery

common.

.Nests on the perpendicularfacesof high^clifls.

Found

on the Greenland coast to 73°N.lat. atleast,

and

probablyfarther. Begins nestingin

Cumber-

landabout July 1.

57. Sulabassana,Briss.

Noticed at different times from Beaver Island,

Nova

Scotia, tolat.

65°]Sr.,

most

numerously in the Gulf of St. LaAvrence

and

the South

Labrador coast.

Not

observed inCumberland.

58. Graculuscarbo, Linm?.

''Okaitsok,"CuraberlaudEskimo audGreeulauders.

A

^{regularbreederin}

Cumberland;

did notappeartobe

common,

but the

Eskimo

say that

some

years they are quite i^lenty.

The

primaries were formerlyin great

demand

fortheirarrows.

59. Buphagnsskua,(Briinn.)Coues.

"8oa-lieu" ofwhalemeu.

One

specimen procuredatsea,lat.41°N.,long.68°

W.,

AtlanticOcean.

Others wereseen atthetime. AjDpearsto beof frequentoccurrenceon the George's, Newfoundland,

and Nova

Scotian

banks

in winter. Seen near

Lady

Franklin Island, north of Hudson's Straits, in Sej)tember;

they then

had young

ones on therocks.

60. Stercorariuspomatorhinus, (Temm.)Vieill.

"Ishungak,"Cumberland Eskimo andGreeulauders.

These

bkds

were first observed at

Bonne

Bay, Newfoundland,

Au-

gust 16.

From

this point northward to 71° N. theywere

common

at nearly all points, and from Belle Isle to Hudson's Straits they were abundant.

They

nest about

Nugumeute and

GrinneU Bay, but not in

Cumberland

Sound.

On

the western shore ofDavis Straits they are

common, aud

nest at the

mouth

of Exeter

Sound and

^at Shaumeer. I have,however,

nowhere

found

them

sovery

common

as on the southern shores ofDiskoIsland; atLaxbuglit

and

Fortuna

Bay

there

must have

been

many hundred

pairs nesting. Their breeding-place

was

an inac- cessible cliff", abouthalfamile from theseashore.

The

greater

number

of thebirds nestinglierewerein the

plumage

described in Dr. Coues's

monograph

of the Larida^ as the nearly adult lilumage; but there were also agood

many

birds that were unicolored blackish browii allover, hutu'ifh thelongvertically twisted tail-feathers. That thesewere breed- ing I think therecan be

no

doubt, as I

saw them

carrying food uj)to