Foreword 



This report is based on a biological survey of most of the 

 Aleutian Islands and the Alaska Peninsula in 1936 and 1937. 

 The report was largely prepared soon after the survey, but 

 for various reasons it has not been practical to publish it until 

 now. Even in manuscript form, this material has been con- 

 sulted frequently, and it is issued now in the North American 

 Fauna series so as to make more accessible information on one 

 of North America's most significant biogeographic regions. 



While the report was being readied for publication, the 

 fifth edition of the Check-List of North American Birds ap- 

 peared (American Ornithologists' Union 1957). Throughout 

 the report, scientific and common names of birds have been 

 made to conform to the new Check-List, but generally refer- 

 ences to "the A. 0. U. Check-List," without specification, are 

 to the fourth (1931) edition. Scientific names of mammals 

 have been made to conform in general to the List of North 

 American Recent Mammals (Miller and Kellogg 1955) ; com- 

 mon names of mammals for the most part follow Hall (1957) . 

 The Pinnipeds conform to the nomenclature of Scheffer 

 (1958). 



No attempt has been made to include references to all 

 recent publications on the Aleutian and Alaskan fauna; 

 references included are those from which data were obtained 

 for this report. 



0. J. MURIE 

 May 1959 



XIII 



