CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 59 
CINCLIDA. WATER OUZELS. 
CINCLUS MEXICANUS Swains. 
(5.) THE AMERICAN WATER OUZEL. 
Throughout the year, along the sparkling streams which descend in a series of cascades from 
the summits of the mountains on the Aleutian Islands, the cheerful presence and strange habits 
of this odd little bird animate the silent and otherwise lifeless gorges and ravines furrowing their 
steep slopes. It braves the wild tempestuous winters of this part of the North Pacific and Bering 
Sea, and is found farther north wintering even on streams flowing into the Arctic Ocean. 
This half aquatic thrush is found about open spots on streams flowing into the head of Norton 
and Kotzebue Sounds, where it braves the severest temperatures of the harsh winters, regardless 
of the intense cold prevailing for weeks at a time. It searches busily for its food in the icy 
waters of the swiftly running streams by whose mossy banks, overhung with stunted pines and 
willows, it rears its young in summer. 
It is unknown whether this or its closely allied Asiatic relatives is found in Chukehi Land. 
But neither form is found on the islands of Bering Sea, except in the Aleutian Chain, nor were 
any seen at Plover Bay or East Cape, where, however, the conditions are scarcely favorable for 
their presence. 
SAXICOLIDA. STONE CHATS. 
CYANECULA SENCICA (Linn.) Behm. 
(6.) THE BLUE THROATED WARBLER. 
The presence of this oddly marked songster here is owing solely to the occurrence of several 
specimens at Saint Michael’s, Norton Sound, where several were taken by Dr. Adams in June, 
1852. 
The various authorities who have written on the habits of the Swedish nightingale, either as 
seen in Northern Europe or Siberia, agree in giving it rare powers of song, especially in 
mimicking the notes of other birds. So varied and peculiar are its capabilities in this respect that 
we can but regret that its presence on American shores is due to mere accident. 
The bird, though quite distinct in several characteristics, especially of color and pattern of body, 
is closely allied to saxicola, as it possesses the peculiar distribution of color on the tail feathers 
almost precisely as in this later genus, and other marks of resemblance. I do not know of its 
oceurrence in Northeastern Siberia, although its summer distribution is subarctic, and it has been 
found on the Lower Lena and in various parts of Middle Siberia. 
SAXICOLA GNANTHE (Linn.) Bechst, 
(7.) THE STONE CHAT. 
The Wheat Ear, although long known as a rather common summer resident in the northeast- 
ern corner of America and in Greenland, has but recently been found in Alaska, where Mr. Dall 
was the first to find it. He obtained a number of specimens in the middle Yukon region, since 
which time Dr. T. H. Bean has found it not uncommon on the Aretic Coast from Kotzebue Sound 
to Cape Lisburne, and the writer has taken it in the fall and spring on the shores of Norton Sound 
at Saint Michael’s, and a native brought a skin of one of these birds on board the Corwin at King 
Island the summer during one of our visits there. 
This list of occurrences shows that the bird is to be considered a somewhat regular visitant to 
some parts if not all of Northern Alaska. It is very erratic in its occurrence, however, and 
where quite common one season may not be found at all the next. 
In the summer of 1880, Dr. Bean found the bird not uncommon in the range just given, 
whereas in the summer of 1881 I visited the same shore in the Corwin and failed to find a single 
individual, although keeping a sharp watch for birds wherever we landed. Strangely enough 
this bird has not been taken anywhere in Eastern Siberia, so that its presence in Alaska must be 
