ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 209 



"boorgas," and the floating ice floes closing in to shut out the open 

 water, are cause enough for the disappearance of the waterfowl during 

 the hyemal season.^ 



Castaway birds on the Pribilof Islands. — The position of the 

 islands is such as to be somewhat outside of the migratory path pur- 

 sued by the birds on the mainland; and, owing to this reason, they 

 are only visited by a few stragglers from that quarter, a few from the 

 Asiatic side, and by the millions of their own home-bred and indige- 

 nous stock. One of these migratory species, Sfrejjsilas interpres, how- 

 ever, comes here every summer for three or four weeks' stay in great 

 numbers, and actually get so fat in feeding upon the larvte which 

 abound in the decaying carcasses over the killing grounds that it 

 usually bursts open when it falls, shot on the wing. A heavy easterly 

 gale often brings a strange bird to the islands from the mainland. A 

 grebe, Podiceps griseigena, wan stranded on St. George in 1873, where- 

 upon the natives declared the like of which they had never seen before. 

 When I found a robin one cool morning in October, the 15th, the 

 natives told me that it was an accident, brought over by some storm 

 or gale of wind that took it up and off from its path across the tundra 

 of Bristol Bay. The next fair wind sweeping from the north or the 

 west could be so improved by this robin, Tusdus migratoriiis, that it 

 would spread its wings and as abruptly return. Thus hawks, owls, 

 and a number of foreign waterfowls visit the islands, but never remain 

 there long. 



Failure to introduce ravens. — The Russians tried the experi- 

 ment of bringing uj) from Sitka and Unalaska a number of ravens as 

 scavengers a number of years ago, and when they were verj^ uncleanly 

 in the village, in contrast with the practice of the present hour. They 

 reasoned that they would — these ill-omened birds — be invaluable as 

 health officers; but the Corvid<L' invariably, soone,r or later, and within 

 a very short time, took the first wind train back to the mainland or 

 to the Aleutian Islands. Yet the natives say that if the birds had 

 been young ones instead of old fellows they would have remained. I 

 saw a great many, however, at St. Matthew Island in August, 1874; 

 also, their slowly-marked flight overhead was a common sight on St. 

 Lawrence. 



Poultry kept by natives. — The natives keep a small number of 

 chickens, and often they take their poultry into their living rooms and 



'While daily served on St. George, during June and July, with eggs of indige- 

 nous sea fowl, I recorded my gastronomic comparisons which occurred then as I 

 ate them. Here follows a recapitulation: 



Fresh-laid eggs of "lupus,'' or F. glacial is. — Best eggs known to the islands; can 

 be soft boiled or fried, and are as good as our own hens" eggs; the yolk is liglit and 

 clear; the size thereof is in shape and bulk like a duck's egg; it has a white shell. 

 Season, Jime 1 to 15, inclusive; scarce on St. Paul and not abundant on St. George. 



Fresh-laid eggs of "arrie," or L. arra.—Yevy good; can be soft boiled or fried; 

 are best scrambled; yolks are dark; no strange taste whatever to them; pyriform 

 in shape: large as a goose egg; shell gaily colored; they are exceedingly abundant 

 on Walrus Island and St. George; tons of them. Season, June 25 to July 10, 

 inclusive. 



Fresh-laid eggs of gulls, Laridn'. — Perceptibly strong; can not be relished imless 

 in omelettes; yolks very dark: size and shape of our hen's egg; shell dark: clay- 

 co'ored ground, mottled. Season, Jvine 5 to July 20, inclusive; they are in mod- 

 erate supply only. 



The other eggs in the list, such as those of the " choochkie," the " shag,'' and the 

 several varieties of waterfowl which bi-eed here, are never secured in sufficient 

 quantity to be of any consideration as articles of diet. It is, perhaps, better that 

 the scarcity of their kind continue, judging from the strong smack of the chooch- 

 kie's, the repulsive taint of the shag's, and the '• twang" of the sea parrot's, all of 

 which I tasted as a matter of investigation. 

 H. Doc. 92, pt. 3 14 



