BIRDS. 203 



arrive in this region. A specimen in the National Museum collection was obtained at Fort Keuai, 

 June 8, and they probably breed as far south as this point along the coast, if not still farther. On 

 June 4 specimens were obtained at Saint Michaels, and on the Sth and 10th of June its eggs have 

 been taken at Fort Yukon. Mr. Dall notes its arrival at Nulato about May 15. Its early arrival 

 here is very remarkable, since Mr. Allen has uever noted it in Western Massachusetts earlier 

 than May 20, whereas the bird arrives in the far north, near the Arctic Circle, five days earlier 

 than it is known to arrive in Western Massachusetts. It is also recorded as the last of the 

 migrants in Central Vermont, where it is seen only for a few days in early June. In the autumn 

 it starts on its return to the south about the 1st of August, the last being seen about the 20th of 

 this mouth. On the shores of Norton Sound in fall, as in spring, it frequents the vicinity of the 

 dwellings, and searches industriously over old board fences and log houses for insects. It is 

 stated that it usually builds its nest in bushes, a few feet from the ground; but some Arctic 

 nests are placed directly upon the ground. This latter variation in habit probably accords with 

 the locality, since it nests in bushes when the latter are to be found. 



A young male commencing to lose its first plumage, taken on the 1st of August, 1879, at Saint 

 Michaels, presents the following characteristics : 



Feathers of the back gray with a central shaft-line of black, edged along the tip with dark, 

 giving an irregular faintly-barred appearance. The crown is dull olive-green, this color haviug 

 evidently replaced a shade similar to that on the rump, but darker. The first plumage remains, 

 however, as an obsolescent superciliaiy line, which is dark grayish, mottled and bordered with 

 dusky. Sides of the head the same as the superciliary stripe. An olive-green wash extends Irom 

 the feathers of back to the sides of head and neck, and includes the edges of the wing-feathers, 

 where it is brightest on edges of primaries. Wings dark ashy-brown ; tertiaries edged with white, 

 washed with olive green. Coverts broadly tipped with white, forming two very distinct wing- 

 bars. Secondaries and inner primaries slightly tipped with white. Tail-coverts and outer edges 

 of tail-feathers ashy; the former lightest. Tail brown, with a white spot close to the tip of the 

 two tail-feathers; in size and pattern exactly like the adult. On the third tail-feather on inner 

 web near the tip is a small white spot, which, though small, is distinct. Abdomen and under 

 tail-coverts dingy white, faintly streaked along the shaft and tipped with dark. Throat, breast, 

 and sides dingy grayish-white, finely tipped on the edges with black, and faintly washed with 

 dusky greenish-yellow. The breast and sides are strongly marked with a distinct greenish yellow 

 area, owing to the presence of feathers belonging to the second plumage. From what is left of 

 the first plumage it is evident that, in this stage, the bird is dingy gray with dark edging and 

 shaft-streaks washed with a faint yellowish, producing an indistinct dingy yellow. 



Dendkoica townsendi (Nutt.). Townseud's Warbler. 



Hartlaub (Jour. Orn. Dent. Cent., July, 1883, p. 2G7) states that this species was seen once by 

 Dr. Krause, on May 27, m conifers of Upper Dejah Valley, Alaska, which is probably the most 

 northern point from which it has yet been recorded. He also adds that there is a single specimen 

 of this species from Sitka in the Bremen and Stockholm collection. 



Seiurus aurocapillus (Linn.). Oven-bird. 



From Fort Yukon some distance down the river this bird is known to breed. Dall tells us 

 that it is not common in that region, and on May 30 he secured a single specimen above Nulato : 

 he adds that the natives called it the grandfather of the Euby-crowued Kinglet. At Mission, on 

 the Lower Yukon, a single dried skin was seen in an Eskimo hut, in the winter, which is the only 

 addition I can make to the history of the bird within the limits of the Territory. It is thus far 

 unknown from the coast and islands of Bering Sea, as well as the coast region of Southeastern 

 Alaska, apparently penetrating the Territory liy the way of the Upper Yukon, from its I'ange 

 thron.-li the liiitisu fur countries to the east. 



Its ne.stiug range extends within the Arctic Circle on the Upper Yiikou and Lower Mackenzie 

 Eivers. 



