Birds observed in Kamchatka. 279 



sea-bird with a red breast. Later in the day we saw 

 flocks of these fairy-like little birds, all dressed in the red 

 livery of summer^ and engaged either in flying over the 

 sea with the sharp, quick wing-beats of a Sandpiper or in 

 resting on the water with the cork-like buoyancy of a 

 Petrel. I did not see among them any of the Red-necked 

 species, Phalaropus hyperboreus (Linn.), so common on 

 Bering Island, not 200 miles away, and which was abundant 

 at sea oflF Avacha Bay on our return journey on August 31st, 

 1897. Both these Phalaropes are surprisingly tame and 

 confiding in their habits while on shore, and at Tareinski 

 Harbour on the 16th a bluejacket brought to me alive a speci- 

 men of the grey species, which he had secured by knocking it 

 over with a stone. It was a male in the red-breasted plumage, 

 which is not nearly so bright as that of the female. These 

 were the only Grey Phalaropes which I met with, but the 

 abundance of the species as seen ofl' the coastmakes one marvel 

 that Dr. Stejneger, in his account of the birds of the country^ 

 could give no instance of its occurrence in the peninsula 

 other than the record of a flock seen by himself near Bering 

 Island on August 21, 1882 *, and the statement " that Merck 

 ob>erved this species, ' circa Camtschatcam/ according to 

 Pallas " t- 



The other species seen were mostly those with Avhich I was 

 already familiar, having met with them either off the coast of 

 Yezo or in the Okhotsk Sea. Such were the Albatrosses, 

 Diomedea albatrus Pall., of which we saw several, including 

 an immature bird in the dark plumage inside Avacha Bay, 

 near Petropavlovsk. 



Fulmars, Fulmarus glacialis glupischa Stejn., in the grey 

 phase prevalent in the western Pacific, were numerous, as 

 they are at that season of the year in almost all jjarts of 

 Bering^s Sea and of the Pacific north of about lat. 45° N. 

 which I have visited. Although this species comes quite 

 close in to the shore both at the Commander Islands and at 

 Robben Reef, I did not see it inside the mouth of Avacha 

 Bay. 



* Op. cit. p. 140. t Op. cit. p. .317. 



