176 Is^ATUHAL UISTORY COLLPXTIOKS IN ALASKA. 



The Luxia hlfasciata of Europe aud Siberia is very uiuch lilce kucoptera, but differs iu having a 

 larger and more robust form throughout. The red of the male is dull scarlet, iu contrast to the 

 rose-red and puri)lish-red of leucoptcra. In its stout proportions it resembles ctirvirostra, while iu 

 some of the color-markiugs, especially iu the female, it resembles leucoptera, so that it appears to 

 unite several of the characteristic marks of the two species aud to merit an intermediate position 

 between the plain aud the banded wiuged species. 



Leucosticte CtKISEONUCHA (Brandt). Aleutiau Leucosticte. 



Ou the Aleutiau Islands from one extreme to the other is found this large and beautiful fluch, 

 extending its habitat thence north to iuclude the Seal Island group and the small island of Saint 

 Matthews, still further to the north. East of the Aleutian chain it reaches Kadiak Island. Upon 

 all these islands, with the exception of Saint Matthews and the Fur Seal group, it is a permanent 

 resident. 



For a knowledge of its habits we are indebted mainly to the observations of Messrs. Dall and 

 Elliott. The latter saw a few ou the island of Saint Matthews August 9, 1874, and this forms our 

 only record from that point. Ou the Seal Island group the same observer found it abundant, and 

 tells us nearly all we have concerning its breeding habits. We learn that on tliese strange islets 

 the "PoWos/tA-ie," as it is termed by the Creole inhabitants of the island — 



Nests ill a ohiuk or crevice of tlie cliffs, building a waru], suug home for its little oues, of dried grasses aud moss, 

 T^ery neatly put together, and then lined with a few superfluous feathers. The eggs vary in number from three to six ; 

 there generally is four. They are pure white with a delicate rosy blush, when fresh, aud measure 0.97 by 0.67 of au 

 inch. The young break the shell at the expiration of twenty or tweuty-two days' incubation, the Labor of which is 

 not shared by the male ; he, however, brings food to his mate, singing as most birds do of his kind, highly elated by 

 the prospects of paternity. The chicks, .at first, are sparsely covered with a sprinkling of dark-gray down, and in 

 two or three weeks gain their feathers, fitting them for flight, though they do not acquire the ash and black of the 

 head, while the chocolate-brown on the back is rich, and the rosy tints of their feather-tips tnru to crimson. These 

 bright hues of adolescence do not appear until they are one year old; between the old birds, however, there is no 

 outward dissimil.arity iu size and coloration, the male and female being exactly alike. They feed upon various seeds 

 and insects, as well .as the larvie which swarm on the killing-grounds. They are fearless and confiding, fluttering iu 

 the most familiar manner around the village huts. Iu the summer of 1873 a pair built their nests aud reared a lirood 

 undfv the eaves of the old Greek church, that tottered ou its rotten foundations, at St. George. 



This bird has no song, but utters a low, mellow chirp. It seems to pair permanently, and 

 never assembles iu flocks. Dall adds that it has no song at any season, but a clear chirp-like 

 ioeet-a-icect-a-iceet-iceet. He reports it as on the wing a great iiart of the time, avoiding the ground, 

 but darting rapidly in a series of ascending aud descending curves, now springing on the broad 

 top of some umbelliferous plant, now alighting on the ledge of a perpendicular blufl', jumping 

 from point to point, seemingly delighted at its own agility. The nest which he found on the 

 Aleutian Islands was in a small hollow on one of the ledges, provided with a few straws and bits 

 of moss. The eggs are deposited in May, and iu August the young are fully-fledged. He considers 

 the birds as almost wholly gramnivoi'ous, but found several beetles iu the crop of one. At Una- 

 laska he found it especially numerous, and on May 24 took its nest from a crevice iu a rocky bank 

 on the shore of Captain's Harbor. The structure was of grass, very neatly woven together, and 

 lined with fine grass and a few feathers. It contained five eggs, newly laid, aud was about 12 

 feet above the beach. The birds were found singly or in pairs frequenting the grassy banks aud 

 rocky blufls near the shore. It was not found at elevated points on the mountains. 



Daring my residence at Unalaska, in May and June, 1877, I saw but a single individual of 

 this species, the last of May, as it was fluttering from point to point along the face of a high clift', 

 at such a distance that it escaped my shot and disappeared over the brow of the precipice. I spent 

 considerable time searching for them in every suitable location, from my arrival up to the date of 

 leaving — the 1st of June— but none were to be found; yet only a few .sea.sons before they had been 

 found numerous by Mr. Dall, over exactly the same ground — an additional illustratiou of the fa- 

 miliar fact that a bird may be luimerous at a place iu one season aud the next finds that locality 

 without a single example. Ou my return to the Aleutiau Islands, the last of September, 1881, up 

 to our leaving, on October 4, of the same seasou, I again made search for this finch, but wirh the 

 same lack of success which attended my previous efforts. 



