58 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 



HYLOCICHLA NANUS Aud. 



(2.) Tee Dwakf Thrush. 



The presence of tbis si)ecies in my list is owing entirely to the idenlificatiou of Gmeliu's 

 Oiinnlaskan Thrush as this l>ir<l by Mr. Ridgway. If Gineliu's bird was one of these thrushes, as 

 the imperfect description may be interpreted to affirm, it occurs there merely as a strajigler, for 

 since the original record not a s])ecimen has been obtained at Ounalaska, or elsewhere ou the 

 Aleutian Islands, by any of the numerous naturalists who have visited them. The descrii)ti()n is 

 80 vague and imperfect as given by Gmelin that absolute identification is impossible, and from 

 the geographical position of the original locality the chances are equally as favorable for II. alicicc. 

 to occur as for the Dwarf Thrush. 



MERULA MIGRATORIA Linn. Sw. & Rich. 



(3.) The American Robin. 



The breeding limit of this bird is restricted to the wooded part of the interior, but it occurs as 

 a straggling migrant on the coast of Norton Sound and Bering Straits and a wind-bound visitant 

 to the Seal Islands. It is ])resent as a sumriier resident ou Kodiak Peninsula, as shown by skins 

 brought me by the Esquimaux. No doubt it is a straggler thence to Northeastern Asia or Chukchi 

 land. It also visits the shores of Kotzebue Sound in the course of its migrations, but I do not 

 know of its nesting anywhere near tide- water on this coast. 



It is a pleasant experience for one in a far-off region like this to come across the familiar forms 

 known in other days. The sight of this bird gleaning its food about the houses on a frosty spring 

 morning in May, carries one's mind back from sterile arctic scenei-y to the blossoming orchards, the 

 hum of bees, and sucli other pleasant sounds and sights of nature as go to make up a beautiful 

 spring day in lower latitudes. One misses, however, the warbling strain of the blue bird, and the 

 cheerless surroundings soon bring the stern reality too closely home. The birds too seem impressed 

 with the gloomy surrouutlings, and I have never heard them utter their notes during the time of 

 their visits to the sea coast. 



In the wooded interior, however, they regain their spirits and rear their young even noith of 

 the circle, and here their cheering notes enliven the wooded river courses during the long summer 

 days, in striking contrast to the silence of a few mouths earlier when a deathly hush made the 

 shadows of the forests a fitting haunt for the wolf and wolverines. 



There is no record of the occurrence of the robin in Northeastern Asia, that I have found, 

 although as before mentioned it undoubtedly is a casual visitant to that region. Elliott found 

 a single bird wind-bound u])on the Seal Islands, beyond which there is no record of its occurrence 

 on any of the islands in Bering Sea. 



HESPEROCICHLA NiEVIA (Gmel.) Baird. 



(4.) The Varieb Thrush. 



This handsome bird equals the robin in its northern range in Alaska, and quite a number of 

 skins have been brought me from the northern shore of Norton Sound and from the Kotzebue 

 Sound region. The Eskimo have assured me of its range considerably beyond this district, and 

 Richardson found it on the JMackenzie River, within the Arctic Circle, where he tells us it arrives 

 very soon after the Robin and the Yellow Warbler. It, like the Robin, i)refers to nest in the wooded 

 country, but unlike the latter it nests at times in the alder clumps close to the shore of Norton and 

 Kotzebue Sounds. It is unknown from the islands aud Asiatic shore of Bering Sea. 



I have not had the pleasure of studyinji' the life habits of this bird, so have nothing to add in 

 this particular, but may say that its habits during the breeding season are but little known, very 

 few naturalists having had opportunity to study its nidiflcation. 



