Recently published Ornithological Works. 105 



our knowledge. Four species are recognized and carefully 

 described, of which Hyliota barbozm, from Benguela, is now 

 first described. 



7. Nelson on the Birds of Bering Sea. 



[Cruise of the Revenue-Steamer 'Corwin' iu Alaska aud tlie N.W. 

 Arctic Ocean in 1881. Washington: 1883. 1 vol. 4to. — Birds of Bering 

 Sea and the Arctic Ocean. By E. "VV. Nelson. Pp. 55-118.] 



On the 21st June, 1881, the 'Corwin' left St. Michaels, 

 Alaska, in search of traces of the ill-fated ' Jeannette ' and two 

 missing whaling-ships. Fortunately for ornithology, Mr. 

 Nelson, who had long been at St. Michaels, was taken on 

 board for this cruise, in the course of which all the islands 

 in Bering^s Straits, Herald and Wrangel Islands, the Siberian 

 shore from the Straits to the North Cape, and the entire 

 Alaskan coast-line from the Straits to Point Barrow were 

 visited. As supplementing the observations of Dall and 

 Bannister on the American, and Nordenskiold on the Siberian 

 avifauna, Mr. Nelson^s observations are of the highest interest, 

 and he has also availed himself of the notes of Mr. Newcomb, 

 the naturalist to the ' Jeannette,' Dr. T. H. Bean, and Mr. 

 Elliot. 



The Emperor Goose {Bernicla canagica), which appears to 

 have the most restricted range of any American Goose, was 

 found in abundance on the south-western portion of St. 

 Lawrence Island, and again on the Bering sea-coast of 

 Alaska from Cape Vancouver to the mouth of the Yukon, 

 north of which it becomes rare. On the opposite coast of 

 Siberia it is also met with where the shore is low and bordered 

 by lagoons ; and there also Steller^s Eider aud the King Eider 

 occur in great abundance. The islands of Bering^s Straits 

 and the Diomede Islands are all resorted to by the Crested, 

 Parrot-billed, and Least Auks ; and some small rocky islets 

 in the Aleutian group are the breeding-places of tlie beautiful 

 grey Fork-tailed Petrel [Oceanodroma furcata) — not to be 

 confounded with Leach's Petrel, which is often called by the 

 above trivial name. Mr. Nelson's observations on the once 

 rare Ross's Gull {Rhodostethia rosea) are of much interest. 



