Vol. XVIII-| Recent Literature. I I Q 



igoi. J ^ 



future. Meantime all ornithologists owe Dr. Dwight a debt of gratitude 

 for one of the most important contributions to recent ornithological 

 literature. — W. S. 



Grinnell's ' Birds of the Kotzebue Sound Region.' ^ — This is the first 

 brochure of a new series of publications, the ' Pacific Coast Avifauna,' 

 bj the Cooper Ornithological Club of California. 



The region with which Mr. Grinnell deals " includes the district coastwise 

 between Cape Prince of Wales and Hope Point, and thence eastward to 

 the headwaters of the streams flowing into Kotzebue Sound," and consists 

 of the " valleys of the Noatak, Kowak, Selawik and Buckland Rivers, as 

 well as several smaller streams, all of which empty into Kotzebue Sound." 

 Mr. Grinnell, in a schooner yacht, reached the vicinity of Cape Blossom 

 July 9, 189S, with a company of prospectors "to explore the Kowak 

 Valley for gold or any other valuable resource this little-known country 

 might afford." They were provided with lumber and machinery for the 

 construction of a stern-wheel steamer for use on the larger streams of the 

 region. While the expedition proved unsuccessful in its search for gold, 

 it afforded Mr. Grinnell excellent opportunity for ornithological work 

 during the year or more spent in this interesting region, the results of 

 which are here detailed. 



After describing the character of the country visited, the author gives 

 an extensively annotated list of the birds observed, numbering 1 13 species, 

 which is followed by a bibliography of Kotzebue Sound ornithology, and 

 a ' Checklist of the Birds of the Kotzebue Sound Region,' numbering 150 

 species, based on the authorities cited in the bibliography, supplemented 

 by his own observations. A map of the region shows the localities 

 visited. 



Mr. Grinnell's paper is thus a most valuable contribution to Alaskan 

 ornithologv. His notes on many of the birds met with are quite extended, 

 sometimes occupying several pages, and greatly increase our knowledge 

 of their breeding habits and seasons of arrival and departure, and there 

 are also important technical notes. His accounts of the two species of 

 Ptarmigan, the Willow Ptarmigan and the Rock Ptarmigan, are especially 

 full and interesting, and include valuable notes on the moulting of these 

 species, and the use of the black ocular stripe in the Rock Ptarmigan. 

 He says : " The natives say this black is so the Rock Ptarmigan, which 

 live on the mountains where the snow covers the ground till midsummer, 

 will not be blinded by the intense glare. The natives themselves, in the 

 spring before going out on a days hunt, thoroughly blacken the region 

 around their eyes and across the nose, with soot, to prevent snow-blind- 



1 Birds of the Kotzebue Sound Region, Alaska. By Joseph Grinnell. = Pacific 

 Coast Avifauna No. i, Cooper Ornithological Club of California, Santa Clara, 

 Cal., Nov. 14, 1900. Roy. 8vo, pp. 1-80, and map. 



