82 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN, 
LAGOPUS RUPESTRIS OCCIDENTALIS Turner. 
(80.) ATKHAN PTARMIGAN. 
At the western end of the Aleutian chain occurs another form of Ptarmigan, as is shown by 
specimens secured on the Island of Atkha by Mr. L. M. Turner during his residence at that place. 
This form differs in several important respects from the Ounalaskan birds, as it does also from the 
bird of the mainland. Mr. Turner has designated his interesting variety as given at the head of 
this paragraph, and describes it in his Contributions to the Ornithology of Alaska, which at the 
present writing is being prepared. Concerning the habits of this form I possess no information. 
Its distribution, however, must be limited, since it is found only on the western extremity of the 
Aleutian chain, and very probably forms merely a local race peculiar to the island where obtained, 
perhaps extending its range to the few adjoining islands. 
LAGOPUS ALPINUS. 
(81.) SUBALPINE PTARMIGAN. 
On the north coast of Siberia occurs this form, according to the narrative of the Vega’s voyage, 
in which Nordenskiéld records finding this species resident at their winter quarters on the Siberian 
coast to the northwest of Bering Straits. In the middle of December he found a flock of fifty of 
them at Tapkan. Still farther to the west along the shore occurs this or an allied species, as 
Hedenstrom records, a species of Ptarmigan wintering upon the New Siberian Islands, which is 
the same as is found on the adjacent coast of Siberia. It seems remarkable that these birds should 
be able to sustain life during the intense cold and fierce storms which ‘sweep over these desolate 
Arctic islands. Nordenskiéld, in his Voyage of the Vega, states that they found a “fell” in the 
winter of 1872, just south of the eightieth parallel, on Spitzbergen, where about 1,000 of these birds 
wintered. He thinks some of these at times hybernate in crevices among the rocks or pass the 
winter “in a kind of torpid state.” Whether this hybernation theory is justified by the facts or not, 
it certainly appears very curious that these grouse are able to winter in 80° north latitude, passing 
safely through the several weeks of continuous total darkness which occurs there in midwinter, 
and be found fat and vigorous as soon as the sun appears above the horizon; yet such are the 
recorded facts. Just how the bird manages to exist during this time remains to be satisfactorily 
accounted for. The species found in Spitzbergen, to which this relates, is the Lagopus Hyperboreus. 
Just what the relationship is which the Rock Grouse of Northeastern Siberia bears to those found 
on the adjacent coast of North America and to the Aleutian Islands races remains a question to be 
solved only when a suflicient series of the birds from the various regions in question may be brought 
together. At present the material in this puzzling group is entirely insufficient to make any definite 
statement on the matter, and it will remain for some future explorer to solve the problem. It is to 
be hoped that some of the present parties now in that region will bring material which will aid in 
settling this interesting subject. 
HAMATOPODIDE. OYSTER CATCHERS. 
HMATOPUS NIGER PALL, 
(82.) THe BLACK OYSTER CATCHER. 
The Black Oyster Catcher, although one of the most robust of the waders found in the North, 
does not extend its range beyond the shores of the Aleutian Islands, and thence aeross to the 
Kurile Islands and adjoining Asiatic coast, where it is recorded by Pallas. 
* 
STREPSILAS INTERPRES (Linn.) Illig. 
(83.) THe ComMON TURNSTONE. 
Along the entire Alaskan coast, from the Aleutian Islands north to Point Barrow, this bird 
is a summer resident, although it does not occur in abundance at any point. Its habits are very 
similar to those of the other small waders with which it associates during this season. In autumn 
