158 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



25. Passerella iliaca unalascensis (Gin.) Eidgw. 



81389 (3319) <? ad. George Island, Port Althorp, June 19, IHSU. 

 (3359),?. Graham Harbor, Cook's Inlet, July 4, " 



61689 (3428) alcoholic. Wooded Id., Kodiak, " 13, " 



81716 (3429) " St. Paul, " " 9, " 



81387 (3498) <? ad. St. Paul, Kodiak, " 12, " 



(3499) i. " " " " 13, " 



81388(3500) 9 ad. " " " " " " 



81688 (3458) alcoholic. Popoff Id., Shumagins, " 18, " 



81390 (3485) ^ ad. Little Koniushi Id., Shumagins, " 16, " \ 



81391 (3486) 9 ad. " " " " " " " 



The afternoon of July 4, 1880, was decidedly warm for bird-collecting 

 at Graham Harbor, and I have a lively recollection of the difficulties 

 encountered in the timber at that place. The sound of a woodpecker 

 tapping on a dead tree allured me to the chase. There was a lavish 

 display of flowering plants — American cowslip, salmon berry, anemones, 

 and a beautiful blue cranesbill. Frost had nipped the detestable wild 

 ginseng {Panax horridum), but unfortunately had not destroyed the en- 

 tire crop. Mosquitos were at the climax of their capacity for making 

 life wretched. The only bird that could be approached Avitli a degree 

 of comfort was the song sparrow {Melospiza fasciata rufina), which fre- 

 quented the beach and its immediate vicinity. Fasserella hid in the re- 

 cesses of the timber, and the way to him led through stinging acres of 

 Panax, over legions of briar-beset, snaggy fallen trees, into numberless 

 concealed pitfalls, and within the jurisdiction of the most relentless mos- 

 quitos known to man. Bird-collecting here was simply a painful duty, 

 and the rcAvard of honest labor was inadequate, because one was al- 

 most sure to lose a bird after killing it in that maze of undergrowth. 



On Little Koniushi Island I found this Passerella associated with Plee- 

 trophanes nivalis and Anthus ludovicianus on the top of the ridge over- 

 looking Northwest Harbor, about 1,200 feet above the sea level. Walk- 

 ing on this island is simply torture, especially for one who is intent on 

 birds and takes no heed to his steps. The soil is soft and yielding, and 

 in most places thickly covered with loose rocks, scrub alder, and a kind 

 of wild apple — all mingled in such a way as to impede one's progress 

 and multiply his toil. Sitka and Port Mulgrave are little better for 

 comfortable walking than the localities just described ; indeed, most of 

 the timbered region, so far as I have observed, is a most discouraging 

 field for pedestrianism. 



20. CoRVUS COR AX CARNivoRUS (Bartr.) Ridgw. 



(3075) ad. Sitka, Alaska. 

 81394 (3076) ad. Sitka, Alaska. 



(3291) sternum. Port Mulgrave, Y;tkutat Bay, Alaska, Jane 24, 1880. 



81667 (3292) head. " " " " " " " " 



Extremely abundant at Sitka. Mr. A. T. Whitford informed me that 

 he has seen ravens catch rats in a very expert manner j swooping swiftly 



