262 ORNITHOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS. 



tint of the gray colors, especially noticeable in the winter specimen, but 

 some summer birds are easily matched by those from the Prybiloff Isl 

 ands. The bill is, in my birds, just a little larger than usual in the other 

 ones, but the difference is too trifling to be taken into account. I have 

 not mentioned that the birds from the Commander Islands apparently 

 have the rosy color of the rumj) extending less far on the back, as this 

 difference possibly may originate from a different make of the skins. 



This is one of the few true American forms of birds occurring on the 

 Commander Islands, being in Kamtschatka replaced by the entirely 

 different Leucosticte brunneotiucha (Brandt), a species I never met with 

 on the island, and which I do not believe occurs there.* 



On Bering Island it cannot be said to be numerous, except, perhaps, 

 in a few places where the localities are very favorable, for instance, at 

 a rugged rock, called Kasarma, a little south of Poludjounaja Seal-rook- 

 ery. Other places where they have been met with are Kitovaja Nepro- 

 pusk, about 6 miles northwest of the village, at the steep cliffs near the 

 fishing place Saranna, at Tolstoj Mys, on the southeastern end of the 

 island, and a few similar localities. During winter they were seldom 

 seen, although I do not believe that they had left the island. 



Copper Island, being one mass of rugged and cracked rocks and cliffs, 

 with steep, often quite perpendicular, walls jutting up straight out of the 

 ocean, is the favorite haunt of these stone-loving birds, which may be said 

 to be fairly common on that island, occurring in pairs around the whole 

 isle during the breeding season. 



In the latter half of June I found the parents feeding their young, 

 and on the 7th of July I shot three full-fledged young at one shot, while 

 they were sitting high up on a rocky shelf, almost invisible on account 

 of their resemblance in color to the stones, crying piteously for food. 

 The nature of the latter may be seen from the contents of the gullets, 

 as stated below under remarks, annexed to the list of specimens ob- 

 tained. The females had very large " breeding patches," Ko. 92637 hav- 

 ing almost the whole abdomen and breast destitute of feathers. 



The "Aleutian Rosy Finch " delights especially in steep and high rocks, 



* lu my preliminary report of 1882 ( Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1883, p. 71), the bird of the 

 islands was erronerously given as L. brunneonucha, caused by an oral communication 

 from Dr. Dybowski, that the latter species was the common form, he having in four 

 years only once obtained a single specimen of griseonucha, which was a bird mounted 

 for aparlor decoration, in the possession of the company's agent, on Bering Island. 

 Not having my specimens at hand when writing ray report, I referred them as above, 

 wrongly enumei'ating the species of Leucosticte as an Old World form. 



