Mar., 1914 BIRDS OF SITKA AND VICINITY, SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA 75 Island, in June; at Bear and Rodman bays, Baranof Island, in August, and at Hooniah and Idaho Inlet, Chichagof Island, in June and July (Grinnell, x9o9, p. ?9o). Larus philadelphia. Bonaparte Gull. Seen occasionally on Sitka Bay throughout the summer. More plentiful on the east side of Baranof Island, on Admiralty and Kuifi islands, and along the mainland shore. Xema sabini. Sabine Gull. Three immature birds seen, two of which were secured on Sitka Bay, August 3, x9x3. Not further noted. Sterna para/isaea. Arctic Tern. Seen on two or three occasions on Sitka bay during the summer of x9?2. Not noted in that locality in ?9?3 . Plentiful, and apparently nesting on gravel bars in Taku Inlet, on the mainland, July x 9, ?9?3. Diomeclea nigripes. Black-footed Albatross. Four birds seen on the west coast of Baranof Island, September 2, ?912. According to Merrill, this bird is occasionally seen in Sitka Bay during stormy weather. He secured a speci- men May 20, I9O8. Fn!rnarus glacialis glupischa. Pacific Fulmar. One bird in the dark phase of plumage seen in Chatham Straits, east side of Baranof Island, September 6, ?9?3 .
Phifinns griseus. Sooty Shearwater. Common on Sitka Bay during August
and September. Also seen in Chatham Straits, September 5-9, ?913? Aestrelata fisheri. Fisher Petrel. Merrill secured a male specimen of this rare petrel near Sitka, May ?7, I9o8. Now in collection of University of Wash- ington. 0ceanodroma furtara. Forked-tailed Petrel. I estimated that there were about two thousand pairs of these birds nesting on St. Lazaria, the only place in the region where they were found breeding. Their nests were nearly all lo- cated among the grass roots on the steeper hillsides, and the young were practi- cally all hatched by the middle of July. Grinnell (?897a, p. 76) found the egg? mostly advanced in incubation June I7, ?896. The only time that I noted any of these petrels away from the breeding colony was September 30 and October I, ?9?3, when about thirty birds were seen feeding around the Sitka docks. At this time the weather was very stormy outside. Merrill states that he has occasion- ally seen this and the next species on Sitka Bay in fall and spring, but never in great numbers. 0ceanotlroma beali. Beal Petrel. Although this form has not been recog- nized by the A. O. U. Committee, I find that a series of breeding birds from St. Lazaria Island are uniformly smaller than specimens of O. leucorhoa from the Atlantic coast, thus substantiating the characters ascribed by Emerson (?9o6, p. 54) to the form beali. In wing and tail measurements becdi is intermediate be- tween leucorhoa and kaedingi, slightly nearer the latter; In beali the wing averages about .5 inch shorter than in leucorhoa, and about .4 inch longer than in kaedingi. The tail is about .25 ,inch shorter that that of leucorhoa and the same .amount longer than that of kaeding. In color beali is slightly grayer than kaed- ingi. I estimated that there were about twenty thousand pairs of these petrels in the St. Lazaria colony. They were nesting on the grassy hillsides in company with the last species and also on top of the island among the timber. They breed gefferally later than furcata. Many nests containing fresh eggs were noted as late as July 3 t (?9t2). Grinnell (t897a, p. 76) found the eggs of this species all fresh June ?7, ?896. l?halacrocorax auritns cincinnatus. White-crested Cormorant. This bird is evidently only an occasional straggler to the vicinity of Sitka. It was not seen
