Vol. XXXVIII 



1920 



Hanna, New Birds for the Pribilofs. 249 



No less remarkable is the absence of some expected species such 

 as the northern raven, a common bird on islands both north and 

 south of these. 



It seems most probable that these rare visitors have been lost 

 birds. They seem to have been blown from their regular courses of 

 flight and upon finding the Pribilofs, have landed there at the 

 particular time when some one was prepared to secure the record. 

 It is very probable that many of them would have perished had 

 they not found this land, and the list may be taken as an indication 

 of the great numbers of birds which must be lost at sea. And if 

 the number of species which has been secured bears any relation to 

 the total number which has actually visited the islands then it 

 seems certain that a few years of intensive ornithological study 

 would result in the addition of many more records. This is true 

 because it must be admitted that the unusual species thus far se- 

 cured have been obtained largely through accident. William Pal- 

 mer spent the summer of 1890 in collecting birds, but otherwise 

 no one has devoted more than a very small fraction of his time and 

 energy to this work. 



I have spent six summers and four winters on the Islands and 

 my last visit extended from June, 1916, to September, 1918. Dur- 

 ing this period 22 new records for the Islands have been made from 

 specimens collected, five of which represent birds which had not 

 hitherto been reported within the boundaries of North America. 

 One of the latter, the Kamchatkan pine grosbeak, was secured by 

 Mr. A. H. Proctor on St. George Island and has already been re- 

 corded. 1 The remaining 21 species are listed below. 



In addition to the specimens which represent new records sev- 

 eral other very interesting species were collected or observed 

 which seem to deserve mention. Two specimens of the ivory 

 gull and one of Ross's gull were secured on St. George Island. An 

 ancient murrelet and a Savannah sparrow were taken on St. Paul 

 Island for what appears to be the first time although they had 

 been previously reported. A European widgeon, a pomarine jaeger, 

 and a wheatear were taken on the latter island. They had pre- 

 viously been collected but once. Two specimens of the dark 



iRiley, J. EL, Auk, Vol. 34, p. 210, April, 1917. 



