CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN, 63 
accompanying this volume showing the bird mentioned. They are found on the grassy flats which 
cover the spit making out at the mouth of the bay, and are very unsuspicious, if my single example 
is to be takemas typical. It was close to the Eskimo huts and lighted upon a stone as I drew near, 
allowing me to approach very closely. I thus obtained the prize without the slightest difficulty. 
Mr. Turner states that he observed one of these birds on the island of Atka, the westernmost of the 
Aleutian Chain, in the spring of 1881. And one of the most remarkable facts in connection with 
the history of this species is the fact that a specimen has lately been received at the National 
Museum, obtained by Mr. L. Belding in Southern California, where it was obtained in the early 
winter of 1881-1882, thus introducing it as a member of the fauna of North America. It is a 
common and pretty well-known bird in collections from Hastern Siberia. Its life history, however, 
still remains to be worked out. The accompanying plate represents it in the act of darting at an 
insect in the characteristic manner of this and allied birds. 4 
The specimen of this bird, which I obtained June 26, 1881, at Plover Bay, Siberia, is an adult 
male in full spring plumage, of which the following is a description : 
Back nearly uniform ashy, changing on upper tail coverts to blackish, with an ashy wash on 
edges of feathers. All but two outer tail feathers black ; the two outer feathers white, each having 
a narrow longitudinal band of black from base along the edge of inner web, which runs out towards 
the end of the feathers an inch from tip of first and close to tip of second. A black line extends 
along near the shaft of outer web of the next to outer feather, breaking and disappearing near the 
middle of the feather. Wing light brown; tertiaries much darker and edged with white. The 
greater and lesser coverts are so broadly edged with white as to overlap and conceal the dark 
brown centers, the two thus forming a large, uniform white patch on the upper surface of wing. 
A broad frontal patch of white extending from bill back on crown to a line drawn across the 
posterior edge of orbits and continuing back nearly to the occiput as a supraocular stripe. A 
nearly black line extends from gape back through eye, uniting the neck with the nearly square 
black patch which occupies the crown and nuchal region and extends partly down on sides of neck. 
From the base of lower mandible on each side a widening band of white extends back under the 
eye and down the side of neck, separating the black crown patch from the large black patch which 
extends from the base of lower mandible down over the throat and breast. The rest of under 
surface white, tinged with a wash of ashy on sides and flanks. Bill and feet black. Iris dark 
hazel. Dimensions: Wing, 3.65; tail,3.75; tarsus, .95; middle toe and claw, .71; culmen, .50 inches. 
SYLVICOLIDA. AMERICAN WARBLERS. 
~ HELMINTHOPHAGA CLATA (Say) Baird. 
(18.) THE ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER. 
This is quite a common breeding bird of the interior of Northern Alaska during each summer, 
but does not usually appear along the sea-coast until its young are fledged and are on their way 
south. This takes place during the first half of August, at which time these birds are quite 
numerous for one or two weeks, especially along the shore of Norton Sound. They are not known 
to occur on the adjoining shore of Siberia, nor on any of the islands in Bering’s Sea. 
DENDRG@CA ZSTIVA (Gmel.) Ba. 
(19.) THE YELLOW WARBLER. 
A common summer resident in every alder and willow patch along the American mainland, 
and more numerous on the shores of Norton and Kotzebue Sounds than elsewhere, owing mainly 
to the abundance of its favorite shelter on these shores. Its familiar notes and bright plumage 
- render it one of the most attractive summer visitants. It is one of the few species of this group 
extending its range within the Arctic Circle, and has, perhaps, the prettiest plumage of its kind 
reaching this high latitude in America. 
