iSSs-J Nelson, Counter- Notes on Alaskan Birds. 2A.I 



me on several occasions, and as Point Barrow is a little further north on the 

 same coast with a suitable country intervening, my statement that this 

 bird 'probably' occurs north to Point Barrow is not an unreasonable one, 

 when we consider the wandering disposition of the present form. But 

 since Mr. Murdoch's positive statement that the bird "does not occur 

 there," Passerculus may think better of it and hereafter avoid the tabooed 

 ground. 



Asio accipitrinus. — Some fragments of a skin of this bird were seen by 

 me among the natives less than one hundred miles south of Point Barrow 

 on the coast, and the wandering habits of the species, and its abundance 

 on all the open coast country to the southward of the point where the 

 fragments mentioned above were seen, gives sufficient support to my 

 statement that the species occurs "nearly if not quite to Point Barrow." 



/Egialites semipalmatus. — When we first landed at Point Barrow a pair 

 of these birds were found feeding in a sandy pool a few steps from where 

 our boat was beached. 



Ereunetes pusillus. — From the fact that I found this bird nesting where- 

 ever I made observations in Northern Alaska during the breeding season, 

 and as I found it numerous at Point Barrow on our visit there, I naturally 

 took for granted that it bred upon the adjacent suitable ground a short 

 distance back from the shore. Mr. Murdoch's observations appear to show 

 that it did not breed close to the Point the two seasons he remained 

 there. 



Numenius hudsonicus.— Skins of this bird were brought to me by natives 

 from the headwaters of a river rising perhaps one hundred miles inland 

 from Point Barrow, and the fact that these birds pass Kotzebue Sound 

 in spring bound north, were the grounds upon which I based my state- 

 ment that it occurs north to the "vicinity of Point Barrow." 



Dafila acuta. — Among a lot of Ducks brought on board the 'Corwin' by 

 the natives during our stay at Point Barrow, were several adults of this 

 species with their primaries all moulted. These came from fresh water 

 lagoons just back from the shore. As these birds, like most others of 

 their kind, pass their summer moult upon their breeding ground directly 

 after the breeding season, the capture of these specimens in the midst of the 

 moult is pretty conclusive proof that these birds do breed in the near vicinity 

 of Point Barrow, although Mr. Murdoch may not have found them during 

 his two seasons there. 



Nettion carolinensis. — My statement that this species occurs "nearly if 

 not quite to Point Barrow" holds true, as a small flock of them were seen 

 by me about one hundred miles south of the Point in a lagoon bordering 

 the shore, and a little further south they were found quite numerous in the 

 summer of 1SS1. 



Mergus serrator. — During a dense fog that caused us to anchor a few 

 miles off Point Barrow on the day of our arrival at that point, a flock of 

 some half dozen individuals of this species flew close by the stern of the 

 ship, heading for the shore, and others were seen at various not remote 

 points along the coast. 



