iSSs.] Nelson, Counter-Notes on Alaskan Birds. 2 39 



the first suspicious sound, a low flight kept them screened by the 

 friendly bushes until well out of gunshot. On the ditch they 

 were usually scattered along singly or in twos, but on the river 

 half a dozen or more might sometimes be found together. I 

 probably saw not more than ten or a dozen different individuals 

 on any one occasion along the mile or two of the river where I 

 observed them. 



Among the more open spots along this part of the river, small 

 flocks of Pine Finches sometimes paused in their wandering, 

 though they spent most of their time, when not moving about, 

 in places where large stretches of tall dead weeds furnished abun- 

 dance of seeds wherewith to stuff themselves. One day, leaving 

 the river and walking out on the bare desolate plains, apparently 

 so devoid of life, I came upon a flock that must have numbered two 

 hundred, so busily feeding among some weeds that they did not 

 stir until I was close to them. Then they rose and flew back and 

 forth, circling around several times before they flew away. As 

 the flock turned in the air the whir of their manv wings was 

 plainly audible. 



The plains, though they seem so deserted, are not without life. 

 They have one characteristic inhabitant, the Horned Lark 

 {Ercmophila alpestris chrysolcetnd), that may be met with 

 scattered here and there in small numbers in whatever direction 

 you go. Their colors harmonize well with the dull tints of the 

 surrounding ground, and as one crouches low at your approach 

 you are very likely to overlook him. They remind one of the 

 fact that nature, the great economist, allows no available space to 

 be wasted and adapts all to their surroundings. The Larks cer- 

 tainly seem well contented with their home, bleak and barren 

 though it may be, and are, perhaps, especially fortunate in occu- 

 pying a place their title to which no other bird is inclined to 

 dispute. 



COUNTER-'NOTES ON SOME SPECIES OF BIRDS 

 ATTRIBUTED TO POINT BARROW, ALASKA.' 



BY E. W. NELSON. 



In 'The Auk' for April, 1885 (p. 200-201), Mr. John Murdoch 

 makes some rather hasty criticisms upon certain statements made 



