163 



Pica pica nuDSONiCA (Sab.). Aniericau Magpie. 



This handsome biril is limited iu its distributiou to a comparatively small portion of the 

 Territory, oecnrriug as a resident and abundant species along that portion of the coast-line 

 extending from the Shumagin Islands east and south. It is abundant on Kadiak Island and in the 

 vicinity of Sitka. Mr. Turner tells me that, during his visit to Kadiak Island, he saw a considerable 

 number of the nests of this birdbuilt in trees close about the village at that place. North of 

 tlie Alaskan Mountains it is comparatively rare, although in the interior, about the head of Bristol 

 Bay, it is not very rare, and even reaches, in some instances, as far as the Lower Ynkon, a single 

 specimen having been taken in midwinter in 1880, at Mission, on the lower course of this stream. 

 Two specimens were brought me from the upper i)ortion of the Yukon by Mr. McQuesten, who 

 obtained ihem at Fort Reliance. These include all of the Alaskan records of this bird. The two 

 specimens from Fort Reliance place its range close to the Arctic (Jirclo. These birds extend their 

 range west on the Shumagin Islands and on the peninsula of Aliaska to Isanotsky Pass, where the 

 alder-bushes and the mainland of Alaska find their western limit together. The alders are used 

 by the magpies to support their nests, and the lack of such support further west is probably the 

 chief reason for the birds' absence beyond. Their northern limit on the Upper Yukon is near the 

 Arctic Circle at Fort Ynkon, but on the Lower Yukon and its tributaries it is in about latitude 

 63° or 04°. 



The two specimens taken at Fort Reliance, on the Upper Yukon, measure as follows: 



A comparison of birds from Europe aad this continent shows that they intergrade and that 

 there are no constant ditferences of coloration. The pattern of wing-coloration is subject to 

 great individual variation, but none of the American examples seen show such a large amount of 

 white as do some specimens from continental Europe. 



The shape of the spurious primary varies greatly among individuals. 



PICA HUDSONICA. 



Cyanocitta stelleui (Gmel.). Steller's Jay. 



At Sitka this is an abundant bird, and undoubtedly it occurs still farther to the north, possi- 

 bly even across the Alaskan Mountains. From accounts derived from the natives I believe that 

 this jay may reach even the Upper Kuskoquim River. They informed me of a bird found on the 



