stroke. The snowy plumage of these birds in winter renders them 
as difficult to see at that season as their brown coat does in summer. 
Ptarmigan and other grouse suffer heavily throughout the year from 
the birds of prey that haunt their territory and pursue them relent¬ 
lessly—eagles, goshawks, gyrfalcons, owls, ravens, etc. 
Golden eagles occur throughout most of Alaska, ranging to the 
Arctic Coast and well out on the Aleutian chain. The Alaskan bald 
eagle also is numerous, and in certain places extraordinarily nu¬ 
merous. The multitude of these handsome birds upon the islands 
and along parts of the southern coast of Alaska is almost incredible 
to one who knows the bald eagle only elsewhere. Sometimes scores 
of them may be seen congregated about the shores of a single small 
bay in southeastern Alaska and they are to be seen along the entire 
length of the Aleutian chain. These eagles are reported to be a se¬ 
rious pest in places where fox-farming has been attempted, as they 
destroy the foxes, especially the young. The great gray sea-eagle 
also crosses sometimes from the coast of Kamtschatka to the Aleutian 
Islands. 
Horned owls are numerous in the wooded districts, and become 
very plentiful during years when rabbits or lemmings are especially 
abundant, providing an unusual food-supply. The traveler along 
the frozen surface of the Yukon on winter nights frequently hears 
the hollow notes of these birds from the forests which loom like 
black walls on each side of the river. Late in the autumn they wan¬ 
der from their usual haunts, and sometimes appear at St. Michael or 
elsewhere on the barren tundra. 
The snowy owl, the arctic member of this family, makes its home 
on the open tundra. It is more diurnal than most other owls, and in 
winter may be seen gliding over the snow close to the surface, when 
it is difficult to follow with the eye on account of its lack of color. 
During a sledge-trip south of the Yukon, one December, I saw a 
freshly killed snowy owl whose immaculate plumage was suffused 
throughout with a rich and beautiful shade of lemon-yellow, exactly 
as a salmon-color or a rosy red suffuses the plumage of certain 
gulls and terns in spring. The following morning this lovely tinge 
had almost completely vanished, only a trace of it remaining under 
the wings and near the bases of the feathers. 
Ravens occur throughout Alaska, and are abundant along the 
southern coast and on the Aleutian Islands, where they come familiarly 
about the settlements, and have attracted the interested comment of 
visitors since the early days of the Russian occupation. At Unalaska 
31 
