Tlic hist of June, 1881, tbe Uiiiteil .State>s levcuue steanici' Coiwiu ivachcd 8aiul Michaels, 

 Alaska, on tier cruise to Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean. The object of this cruise was to search 

 the various accessible jiortions of the Arctic for traces of the Jeanuetfce and two missing- whaling- 

 vessels wliich were lost the same season that the Jeauuette entered the ice. Through the courtesy 

 of the Secretary of the Treasury, I was taken on board and accompanied the Corwin throughout 

 the remainder of the season. 



On .lune -1, we left Saint Michaels and crossed Bering Sea to Saint Lawrence Island and I'lover 

 Bay on the Siberian coast; theuce along this coast througli the Straits and northwest in the Arctic 

 to the vicinity of Nordenskiold's winter ([uarters, where we took on board a sledge party which had 

 been left there earlier in the season to search the coast in that district. Theuce we returned again 

 to Saint Lawrence Island and to Saint Michaels. After remaining here a short time, we returned to 

 the Arctic, touching at all the islands in Bering Straits; and during the remainder of the summer 

 visited in succession the entire Alaskan coast line from Bering Sti-aits to Point Barrow, including 

 Kotzebue Sound and on the Siberian shore from the Straits to Xorth Cape. We also cruised along 

 the edge of the ice-pack, landing upon Flerald and Wraugel Islands. On September 14, we passed 

 through Bering Straits bound south; and after remaining sometime at Ounalaska in tbe Aleutian 

 islands, fitting the vessel for a voyage to San Francisco, we left, October 4, homeward bound. 



The observations on which the present paper is based were made both dui'ing the cruise just 

 detailed, an<l in addition are the results of observations made by myself during over four years' 

 residence at Saint Michaels, and explorations carried on in various directions from that iioint. In 

 addition, I have used information obtained from various reports which have been issued regarding 

 the region in (|uestiou, so far as the limited time at my disposal would allow. 



The species given for the Alaskan coast and the islands of Bering Sea are almost, or quite, a 

 complete list of the birds found tlierc ; but the species mentioned upon the Siberian coast form 

 only a small (juota of those occurring in that region. This is mainly due to the little that is known 

 concerning that region and the inaccessibility of its literature. 



The Arctic waters lying between Greenland and Europe on the southeast, and America on the 

 southwest, have been visited by so many naturalists accompanying the various exploring and 

 other expeditions, that the vertebrate fauna, at least, has become pretty well known. This is 

 certainly true as regards the distiin^tiou of most of the species, though the life histories of many 

 undoubtedly yet require the patient research of some enthusiastic student ready to face the dis- 

 comfort, and often misery, entailed l)y such work in boreal regions. 



Leaving this comparatively well-trodden field, however, where is the naturalist who is pre- 

 pared to state authoritatively just what is found at other portions, or on other coasts of this 

 great frozen ocean ? The reply is simple, for as yet no one has been able to do more than to touch 

 at some remote corners of the coast; or a vessel's prow may have pressed into the shifting ice-pack 

 a short distance only to be rebuffed or else caught and held in an unj-ielding grasp. 



Exceptionally favorable opportunities of the writer in the unkjiown region of Bering Sea and 

 the adjoining portion of the Arctic Ocean to the north have been detailed in the present paper, 

 with such other information as could be ol)tained from other soiuces; as we visited all parts of the 

 basin lying to the south of the solid icepack, and between Alaska on the east and south, Bering- 

 straits and part of Siberia completing the southern limit, and the same portion of Siberia and 

 Wrangel Island forming, with the ice-pack, the western border. Within this area, visiting all the 

 shores named, among which as speciallj' noteworthy may be mentioned Herald and A\'rangel 

 Islands, respecting which the only knowledge existing was that two bodies of land were known to 

 lie there, one of which, in fact, was previously considered almost mythical till the work of the 



