BIRDS. 93 



learn any more of any object connected with the region than the 

 people of that region. 



Wednesday the 13th. I shot a bird to-day that has a most peculiar 

 name in the vocabulary of the natives ; it is called by them the 

 Nan-cary\ pronounced as if spelt nan-sary; it is in fact the greater 

 yellow legs {Totamts 7nela7ioleucus) , and is more or less common 

 in the late fall either singly or in small flocks along the beach with 

 the small sandpipers and plovers. 



Thursday the 14th. It seems as if I did little else but describe 

 birds ; but as there are more of these than of any other animals in 

 the place, and as I have attempted to follow the outlines of my 

 journal, I hope that in doing so I shall not render tedious a sub- 

 ject delightful in itself, but for which others may not care so much, 

 while the omission of which would disarrange what I regard as 

 the natural order of a series of articles of this kind. I will then 

 tell you of still another new and somewhat rare species of bird, 

 captured to-day, called the Lapland longspur {Plectrophanes lap- 

 po7iicus) . The development of the hind claw of this bird is some- 

 thing remarkable, often reaching three-fourths of an inch or over. 

 It is found either alone or in company with the immense flocks of 

 snow buntings so common at the approach and departure of win- 

 ter. The bird was feeding at dusk near the kelp on the shore and 

 with several others probably of the same kind, — their flight and 

 notes were like those of the shore lark so common here. It was 

 rather wild, and was either a female or young bird. Though having 

 seen the bird several times to my certain knowledge, I only suc- 

 ceeded in shooting a single specimen. 



The wind has blown pretty hard all day. It seems no unusual 

 thing for a wind storm to set in and last several days here, while 

 often the wind blows with such force that it is dangerous to at- 

 tempt any sort of navigation. Strange to say an Indian canoe 

 ("cranky" as it is generally regarded) will ''ride "with apparent 

 safety where any other boat would be swamped in an instant. 



Though the wind was not really severe, this afternoon, we had 

 hard work to manage the boat to and from Old Fort bay, where we 



