74 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 
They are generally found about the mouths of streams, whose bushy borders afford them the sheltered 
highway which their skulking instinct leads them to favor. The only specimen I ever saw close 
to salt water was on the shore of Bering Sea, at Cape Romanzoft. We had camped at this cape the 
night before and were just leaving it as a heavy sea began to run. Pushing off, we had gained a 
few yards from shore when an odd note caused us to look back, and there, perched on a small bush, 
close by the remains of our camp fire, stood one of these birds uttering his ludicrous cries, as if 
making sport of us for not finding him earlier. The waves rendered the landing so dangerous that 
we were obliged to leave the bird in possession, and whenever I recall the scene at this camp the 
foreground in the mental picture is occupied by the serio-comic attitude of this bird as he flirted 
his tail and mocked us from his safe vantage-ground. 
ALANDIDA. SKYLARKS. 
EREMOPHILA ALPESTRIS LUCOLZMA Coues. 
(49.) THE WHITE-THROATED SHORE LARK. 
This bird occurs very rarely on the coast of Bering Sea. I secured a single specimen at Saint 
Michael’s—the first of May—and one or two others have been taken in that vicinity, besides which 
I have no record of its occurrence anywhere within the region under discussion. The numerous 
visits made by ornithologists to these shores, during the last few years, and the scarcity of this 
bird in their collections prove it to be a great rarity in this region, both on the American and 
Siberian shores. Farther to the eastward, in the interior, the bird is more common, but is still 
rare, until the farther interior of the continent is reached. All the Alaskan specimens examined 
are referable to the name heading this article, and it is presumable that shore larks from 
Northeastern Siberia would be referable to the same. It is nof known to occur on the Aleutian 
or any of the other islands in Bering Sea. It has been found nesting as far north of the old world 
as Nova Zembla and Spitzbergen; but it was not seen by us on the shores of Wrangel or Herald 
Islands nor on the adjacent Siberian coast. 
TYRANNIDA, FLYCATCHERS. 
EMPIDONAX PUSILLUS (Swains.) Bd. 
(50.) THE LITTLE FLYCATCHER, 
Two specimens of this bird, obtained by me at Saint Michael’s in the spring,.are the only 
ones found on the shore of Bering Sea. They add very considerably to the bird’s known range. 
PICIDA. WOODPECKERS. 
PICUS PUBESCENS Linn. 
(51.) THE DowNy WooDPECKER. 
The Downy Woodpecker, a common species in the interior of Alaska, makes frequent 
visits to the sea-shore in the north, especially during the spring and fall. It is then found about 
the alder patches, and rarely visits the houses. I obtained a number of specimens from the 
flagstaff and sides of the storehouse at Saint Michael’s, during my residence there. It is more 
numerous at the mouths of the larger rivers, as the Yukon and Kuskoquim. Here the close 
approach of the wooded interior to the coast renders its presence common, and it even nests close 
to the sea-coast in the bushes on the lower Yukon. It is not known from any island of Bering 
Sea nor from the Siberian coast, but is found in the alders about Kotzebue Sound at times. 
COLAPTES AURATUS (Linn.) Sw. 
(52.) THE YELLOW-SHAFTED FLICKER. 
This is a still more uncommon bird on the shore of Bering Sea. It approaches the coast about 
the head of Norton Sound, and in rare instances on Kotzebue Sound. During the winter of 1878, 
