ALARKA INDUSTRIES. 213 



liigli in llie air and hovering- on flnttering wings over its sitting mate. 

 The song is so sweet that it is always too short, tliongh it lasts a few 

 moments, with brief intervals only. This songster is much more shy 

 and reserved than the common snow bunting, and it rarely enters the 

 village. It is most abundant on St. Paul Island, where, unlike the 

 snow bunting, it seeks the low grassy grounds, both for food and nest- 

 ing, being never found among the rough bowlders chosen for a home 

 by the other PJectroplianes. The two nests which I found were built 

 in tussocks or grass on the low hummocky flat between the village and 

 the main ridge of St. George, sheltered aiid half concealed beneath a 

 drapery of withered grass. In each case the mother bird did not fly 

 away till I almost stepped ui)on her nest, when she quickly fluttered 

 off and disappeared in perfect silence. Those nests and females in 

 breeding dress were the first of their kind to arrive at the Smithso- 

 nian collection. One nest contained four and the other five eggs, 

 rather smaller than the snow bunting, and of a rich gray-brown color, 

 with deep shades of brown running over them in spots and suffused 

 lines. These examples were not discovered until the 7tli of July, at 

 which date the eggs in both were perfectly fresh. They were probably 

 not laid until about the end of June. The j'oung appear in the same 

 manner as those of P. nivalis. The males do not assume the distinc- 

 tive coloration of their sex until the next season. The natives say 

 that very severe weather sometimes drives the longspur away, 

 although the other relative, the snow bunting, is never forced to leave. 



6. Corvus corax. Raven; "Vae-rone." 



As I have remarked in my general introduction the experiment of 

 introducing ravens was unsuccessfully tried by the Russians, but the 

 natives still claim that if a number of young birds were brought here 

 and raised they could be induced to remain upon the islands during 

 the whole season. They say that the failure to keep those birds 

 brought up from Unalaska on several occasions prior was due to the 

 fact of their being old birds. 



7. Falco sacer. GtYRFalcon. 



The specimen of this bird in my collection was evidently stranded 

 and forced out of its usual flight when I secured it on the Reef Point 

 at St. Paul Island, March, 187o. It was the only one that I saw while 

 there. 



8. Charadrius fulvus. Golden Plover. 



The appearance of this specimen in my collection was another new 

 item added to the list of North American birds, since it is the first 

 American specimen of the true Asiatic fulvus, and not the North 

 American var. Virginiciis. It came to St. Paul as a wanderer on the 

 2d of May, 1873, and the natives told me that it was a frequent visitor 

 in that manner, a few stragglers landing in April, or the first days of 

 May, and passing on their way north, never remaining long. They 

 return in greater number, however, by the close of September, and 

 grow fat upon the larvae generated over the killing grounds, leaving 

 for the south by the end of October. 



9. Strepsilas interpres. Turnstone; "Krass-nie Ko-lit-skie," or "Krassnie 



NouiE." 



This is a very handsome bird when in full plumage, and arrives in 

 flocks of thousands about the third week in July, taking its departure 

 from the islands along by the 10th of September. It does not bref^4 



