CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 91 
slightly elevated land bordering an extensive series of flats.. It had a loud, clear note, very 
similar to that of the Hudsonian Curlew, and was not shy. I readily approached them, and 
secured the male, and afterwards severely wounded the female. The only other instance of its 
capture in the north is the single specimen secured at Kodiak by Bischoff, in 18— 
It is a well-known bird on the islands of the South Pacific, where it exists in great numbers, 
but its presence in the North is rather unexpected, and like that of several other birds, notably 
the Pacific Golden Plover and Pacific Godwit, which wander to sub-artie regions in summer, its 
winter home is among those islands dotting the South Pacific. 
PHALAROPODIDAL PHALAROPES. 
PHALAROPUS FULICARIUS (Linn.) Bp. 
(111.) THe RED PHALAROPE. 
The present handsome species is extremely abundant on the Alaskan and Siberian coast of 
the Arctic, north to Wrangel and Herald Islands and thence south along both shores of Bering 
Sea. It breeds from the mouth of the Kuskoquim River, north along the coast of Alaska, and on 
the Siberian coast, mainly along the northern shore. Throughout the breeding season it is limited 
rather closely to the shore, but when the young are fledged and able to follow their parents all 
leave the shore behind or frequent the lagoons and brackish lakes in the immediate vicinity of the 
sea. The few vessels which break the monotony of these northern waters in summer find dotting 
the waves on every hand these buoyant and graceful birds, their quick, agile, and elegant 
movements attracting attention, while their numbers render them conspicuous as they wheel and 
cirele in flocks about the vessel, their wings flashing in the sunlight. 
To the whalers in this region they are known with the next species as “ bowhead birds,” from 
their habit of feeding upon minute animaleule which afford the right whale or bowhead its food. 
Hence a community of interests attracts these pigmies and the largest cetacean of the North to 
prey upon the same fare. <A logical deduction follows, based upon experience, by which the 
whalers predict the presence of whales wherever this elegant bird is to be found in great numbers. 
We saw it repeatedly while cruising in the ice off Wrangel and Herald Islands and thence across 
the Arctic to Point Barrow or the Bering Sea coast. The calm spaces between the large tields and 
blocks of ice afford favorite resorts for the members of the numerous bands of Phalaropes along 
the edge of the pack. They are quite plentiful around the entire Arctic Zone and are familiar to 
fishermen, whalers, and explorers who visit this dreary region. They are among the few species 
which the forbidding climate of the highest latitudes does not appear capable of deterring from 
making their summer home there. Nordenskidld found this bird’s eggs laid on the bare ground of 
Spitzbergen, and reports it as the commonest species along the north coast of Asia. 
LOBIPES HYPERBORBEUS (Linn.) Cuv. 
(112.) THE NORTHERN PHALAROPE. 
Like its relative just mentioned, the Northern Phalarope is an extremely abundant bird in the 
north, although its disposition is perhaps less maritime and less northern than the one just 
deseribed. On the Bering Sea coast of Alaska the Northern Phalarope is in great excess of its 
stouter relative. Thence north the Red Phalarope is the more numerous, and especially so in various 
parts of the Arctic. On the northern coast of Siberia the Northern Phalarope was found sparingly, 
whereas the other species was in the greatest abundance. Both forms unite in the same flocks 
and were found throughout the sea as far as the Corwin penetrated during the summer of 1881; 
but in this part of the range the Northern Phalarope, in spite of its name, was less and less 
numerous the farther north we advanced, while the other species was in equal number throughout. 
Both birds oecur during the migrations about the Aleutian and other islands of Bering Sea. But 
the Northern Phalarope appears to be the only species breeding in the Aleutian chain and thence 
north to Saint Lawrence Island, where the Red Phalarope nests. We learn from Nordenskiéld 
that the Northern Phalarope breeds on Nova Zembla and at the New Siberian Islands, besides 
being found all along the North Siberian coast. 
