72 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 
Of course the relations of the constituents of the ornis, as given above, 
are based only on a rough judgment, but it is thought that the zoédgeo- 
graphical affinities of the islands are tolerably well expressed. It.is to 
be expected that the additions which the fauna is likely to receive during 
the following eight months will raise the percentage of the circumpolar 
birds. 
The ornis, however, is characterized not only by what it possesses 
but also by what it lacks. Thus I had expected to find Sazicola 
cenanthe (L.) and Budytes flava (L.) (in Petropaulski I found the latter 
breeding, being more like the typical form than any other I have seen) 
and an Otocoris, to which the frequent sand-dunes offer favorite breeding 
places, one or two Siberian true Hmberiza and Scheniclus, Chelidon 
erythrogaster (Bodd.)* (abundant in Petropaulski), and an Archibuteo. 
The orders Herodti and Alectorides are wanting altogether, and the re- 
markable poverty of the Larid@ I have already mentioned. 
As a matter of course, my time was wholly occupied in collecting and 
preserving specimens of every branch of natural history, studying the 
rookeries, and taking meteorological observations. I had scarcely any 
opportunity for special ornithological studies. 
Some observations, however, relating to the seasonal change of plumage 
of the ptarmigan occurring here (Lagopus albus Gm.) may perhaps be 
of some interest, as it forms a question involving the most contrary 
opinions among observers. Want of time will not allow any revision of 
the matter at present. For this reason I give the observations as they 
were written in my journal with the fresh birds before me. 
With regard to No. 1542, a 2 shot July 29, 1882, I find the following 
notes: The featherson head, breast, and abdomen are old; that is to say, 
they are without any trace of the “outer follicle,” and thus are also 
all the single white feathers, found mixed here and there between the 
brown ones on the upper surface. Almost all the dark feathers have 
their bases more or less concealed in the sheaths, and between these 
protrude still “unblown” sheaths with brown terminal pencils—in short, 
brown feathers in all stages of growth. The few dark feathers, also, on 
the hypochondries, some of which have white terminal spots, show the 
same phases. None of the white feathers are new. Between the white 
ones on the breast some sheaths are seen protruding, but still without end 
pencils, showing themselves, however, to be dark ones, when opened. 
Another ¢ shot abont fourteen days later (August 10, No. 1419) shows 
exactly the same conditions, only that the new dark feathers on the 
lower parts among the white ones are more developed, being blackish 
with white terminal spots. 
The 2 shot the same day (No. 1418), with the whole portion covering 
the sternum, the inner sides of the femora, and the fore part of the ab- 
*T have no doubt that this species is identical with the North American bird, as 
both color and size agree very well with your description in Rev. North Amer. Birds, 
I, p. 295. 
