Birds observed in Kamchatka. 287 



with any Eagles on tlie island^ as it had heen suggested 

 that the rare Halia'etus hyjjoleucus of Ridgway might occur 

 there. But the western side of the island is quite unsuit- 

 able for Eagles, and if they occur at all it must be about 

 the cliffs of the Bering's Sea coast. 



We left Karaginski Island on our way south to Japan at 

 6 A.M. on August 24th, and reached Petropavlovsk at about 

 noon on the 27th. Tiie journey was uneventful, both as 

 regards ornithology and otherwise, the only incident of 

 interest to a naturalist being the visit of a Turnstone^ to the 

 ship at 6.30 p.m. ou the 28th, at a time when we must have 

 been somewhere in the neighbourhood (and probably north) 

 of Cape Kronotski. 



I append a list of the species brought home (69 speci- 

 mens), most of which are now in the collection of the 

 British Museum of Natural History. For 17 of the skins 

 I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Jacobleff", of Petro- 

 pavlovsk. I am also under an obligation to Dr. R. Bovvdler 

 Sharpe and Mr. W. R. Ogilvie Grant, of the Bird Depart- 

 ment of the British Museum of Natural History, who were 

 good enough to identify for me the more difficult species. 

 Mr. Howard Saunders has also examined the Tern, Gulls, 

 and Skuas. 



Wherever possible I have tried to give a description of 

 the colours of the legs, feet, claws, iris, and bill of the speci- 

 mens as noted down after they had been shot. I have also 

 added the tints of the inside of the bill and of the fauces, the 

 latter of which, so far as my experience goes, are compara- 

 tively seldom alluded to or noticed by naturalists, although 

 they are often exceedingly beautiful, and sometimes, as in the 

 case of the Guillemots, of quite unexpected tints. To give 

 correct names to all the varied shades and hues of colouring 

 is, I fear, beyond my powers, and the difficulties of describing 

 specimens without a brush and paint are almost insurmount- 

 able. To select one instance alone, nothing but an elaborate 



* Another Turnstone came on board the ship on August 31st, soon 

 after we had left Avacha Bay for Japan, and on the same day a party of 

 Curlews flew over, flying high in the same direction as the ship. 



