BIRDS. 199 



Clivicola eiparia (Liiiu). Bank Swallow. 



Along the Arctic sea-coa.st, as well as the sliores of Beriug 8ea, tlii.s is au extremely rare visitant, 

 occurring merely as a straggler during its migration. On the river courses of the interior, how- 

 ever, it is one of the most abundant, if not the most abundant, species of swallow. Dall found it 

 nesting in great numbers on the Yukon, and counted over seven hundred swallows in a sand-bluff 

 near Nuklukhayet; he found from two to six eggs in the nests which he examined. These eggs 

 were laid upon scanty beds of fine twigs without straw or other lining. Eichardson found colonies 

 numbering thousands of ■these birds about the mouth of the Mackenzie Eiver iu latitude 00°, and 

 it is common all along the rivers of Arctic America. A single bird taken by the Point Barrow 

 partj-, and a few others seen there the last of July and first of August, show that this species 

 extends its range to the extreme northern point of the mainland. In Xortheru Asia also it is a 

 very common species along the river courses, nesting to latitude 09° north, and i)assing south to 

 the shores of the Indian Ocean during the winter. It arrives at the Yukon mouth from the 20th 

 to the 25th of May, and leaves that region the last of August. 



There is no record of the Bank Swallow's presence on the southeast coast of the Territory, 

 though it is to be expected there owing to its wide distribution. It is unknown on the islands of 

 Bering Sea. 



AmpI'^.lis CrARRtTLUS Liuu. Bohemian Waxwiug. 



There is no record of this bird's occurrence anywhere along the shores of Bering Sea or the 

 Arctic. la the interior, howeverj||jtis rather common, and specimens were brought me which were 

 obtained in May at ISTulato, and at Fort Reliance from October 2 to IG and on May 9. Dall states 

 that it arrives at ISTulato about June 10, when it becomes common, and undoubtedly breeds in the 

 vicinity. That it arrives earlier in the season is shown by the specimens brought me from that 

 locality. Bj^ Mr. Dall's observations it appears that tlie bird is migratory in that section of the 

 Territory. 



The only American examples of the \Vaxwing's nest and egg were taken by Kennicott at Fort 

 Y'ukou July 4, 1861. The nest was placed on the side of a branch of a small spruce which was 

 growing on the edge of a clump ou low ground. The nest was at an elevation of about IS feet. 

 It was large, the base being made of dry spruce twigs, and the nest itself constructed of fine 

 grass and moose-hair, lined internally with large feathers. The female was shot as she left 

 the nest. The single egg obtained measures .90 by .05 of an inch, and has a grayish-slaty or 

 stone-colored ground. The spots arc dark brown with a deep violet shade. This nest and egg 

 remain unique among American collections, notwithstanding the presence of the bird in consid- 

 erable numbers in various parts of Arctic America. 



The nest described above is considerably smaller than the European nests of the Waxwing. 

 The eggs of the European bird are also much larger, being au inch long and from .70 to .09 of an 

 inch in breadth. Hundreds of these birds' eggs were obtained in Lapland by Wolley and others. 



Through the labors of this last-named naturalist and of various other ornithologists, it has 

 been ascertained that these birds breed in the northern part of the Old World from the last of 

 May to the end of June, but most of them have their complement of eggs by the second week of 

 June. Their breeding range varies so much in different years that a locality where many of its 

 eggs are found in one season may not yield a single set the next. There is no record of the Wax- 

 wing's presence on the southeastern coast of the Territmy, although undoubtedly it i>i found there. 



Laniu.s borealis Vieill. Northern Shrike (Esk. Ti-M-chiil-ivul-). 



The only specimen of this bird from Southeastern Alaska in the ISTational Museum collection is a 

 fuU-plumaged male, which was obtained at Fort Kenai, Cook's Inlet, May 19, 1SC9, and it has 

 not been taken on any of the islands in Beriug Sea. Hartlaub records a specimen seen January 

 4 at the mouth of Chilcat Eiver and a second ou Lynn Canal. Over the entire northern portion of 

 the Territory from Bering Sea east to the British boundary, and north of the Alaskan Mountains, 

 it is a resident, rather common in some places but nowhere abundant. It is found as a rare visitor 



