DAYS AMONG ALASKA BIRDS 



BY CHARLES KEELER 



HERE was to me a peculiar interest in the 

 birds seen during our memorable voyage along 

 the Alaska coast, in that most of them were 

 old friends, known through many a California 

 winter. I was now to be taken into the pri- 

 vacy of their homes and to make their acquaintance at the 

 brief period when all the best and sweetest scenes of their 

 lives are enacted. Many of them are silent, for the most 

 part, during their winter visits, and only on the Alaska 

 shores are their songs to be heard. Others, which sing 

 about my garden in midwinter, were uttering the same 

 familiar strains in this region of enchanting grandeur. 

 There were also strangers of rare interest among them 

 inhabitants of Arctic tundras and the storm-swept rocks 

 of Bering Sea. 



During the early days of the voyage the ornithologists 

 of the party were sadly disappointed on account of the 

 scarcity of bird life. We sailed by mile upon mile of 

 forest land with inviting shore lines, where streams of 

 water tumbled and roared down the mountain sides, but 

 upon landing the forest presented a harsh and inhospitable 

 barrier of devil's club, swampy thickets, and great fallen 

 tree trunks overgrown with rank vegetation. On forcing 



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