FAUNA OF THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS AND ALASKA PENINSULA 117 



Haliaeetus pelagicus: Steller's Sea Eagle 



In the course of all our expeditions to the Aleutians, a Steller's 

 sea eagle was never observed, though we scrutinized all eagles 

 closely for such a possibility. Charles H. Gilbert's specimen from 

 Kodiak Island (1922) is the only record of a specimen obtained 

 from the Aleutian district; however, more recently, Friedmann 

 (1935) has recorded several bones of this species from middens 

 on Kodiak Island. G. Dallas Hanna (1919, 1920) has recorded 

 a specimen taken in the Pribilofs in December 1917. These are 

 the only records for North America based on actual specimens. 

 Austin H. Clark (1910) reported seeing one of these eagles near 

 Unalaska on May 26, 1906. 



Leonard Stejneger (1885) says of this eagle: "The habitat is 

 especially the mainland of Kamschatka, where it is abundant, 

 but also all the countries bordering the Okotsk Sea. On Bering 

 Island it is only an occasional visitor, being chiefly an inland 

 bird preferring the quiet rivers and lakes surrounded by dense 

 forests." 



Circus cyaneus: Marsh Hawk 

 Circus cyaneus hudsonius 



Friedmann (1935) records a specimen taken on Kodiak Island 

 by Bretherton on April 2, 1894. Osgood (1901) reports the 

 marsh hawk near Homer and Hope, in the Cook Inlet region, 

 and again, in August 1902, he found them at intervals along the 

 Kakhtul River and occasionally, all the way to Nushagak. Caha- 

 lane (1944) observed 4 marsh hawks in Katmai National Monu- 

 ment in September and October 1940 ; 2 of these were males. 



We did not see any of these hawks west of Kodiak Island 

 during three expeditions, nor does Wetmore record any west 

 of Kodiak Island in his field report for 1911. But Turner (1886) 

 records a flock of 10 of these hawks at Unalaska, and he remarks 

 that it is a rare summer visitor to Attu Island; however, this 

 statement is surprising in view of present-day information. Those 

 observed at Unalaska must have been a migrant group. But 

 Cahn (1947) contributes the valuable information that lie ob- 

 served a male in Makushin Swamp, Unalaska Island, June 7, 

 1943, and saw a female over the swamp at the end of Captain's 

 Bay on July 7, 1944. 



Although the marsh hawk may occasionally appear to the 

 westward, it certainly prefers the meadows and marshes of the 

 more wooded parts of Alaska, including the base of Alaska 

 Peninsula and the Kodiak-Afognak group. Along the north side 



