CECnSE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 63 



accompanying this volume showing the bird mentioned. They are found on the gra.ssy flats which 

 cover the spit making out at the mouth of tlie bay, and are very unsuspicious, if my siugle example 

 is to be taken as typical. It was close to the Eskimo huts and lighted upon a stone as I drew near, 

 allowing me to approach very closely. I thus obtained the ])rize without the slightest difficulty. 

 Mr. Turner states that he observed one of these birds on the island of Atka, the westernmost of the 

 Aleutian Chain, in the spring of 1S81. And one of the most remarkable facts in connection with 

 the history of this species is the fact that a specimen has lately been received at the National 

 Museum, obtained by Mr. L. Belding in Southern California, where it was obtained in the early 

 winter of 1881-1882, thus introducing it as a member of the fauna of North America. It is a 

 common and ])retty well-known bird in collections from Eastern Siberia. Its life history, however, 

 still remains to be worked out. The accompanying plate represents it in the act of darting at an 

 insect in the characteristic manner of this and allied birds. 



The specimen of this bird, which I obtained June 20, 1881, at Plover Bay, Siberia, is an adult 

 male in full spring plumage, of which the following is a description : 



Back nearly uniform ashy, changing on upper tail coverts to blackish, with an asliy wash on 

 edges of feathers. All but two outer tail feathers black ; the two outer feathers white, each having 

 a narrow longitudinal band of black from base along the edge of inner web, which runs out towards 

 the end of the feathers an inch from tip of first and close to tip of second. A black line extends 

 along near the shaft of outer web of the next to outer featlier, breaking and disappearing near the 

 middle of the feather. Wing light brown ; tertiaries much darker and edged with white. The 

 greater and lesser coverts are so broadly edged with white as to overlap and conceal the dark 

 brown centers, the two thus forming a large, uniform white patch on the upper surface of wing. 

 A broad frontal patch of white extending from bill back on crown to a line drawn across the 

 posterior edge of orbits and continuing back nearly to the occiput as a supraocular stripe. A 

 nearly black line extends from gape back through eye, uniting the neck with the nearly square 

 black patch which occupies the crowu and nuchal region and extends partly down on sides of neck. 

 From the base of lower mandible on each side a widening band of white extends back under the 

 eye and down the side of neck, separating the black crown patch from the large black patch which 

 extends from the base of lower mandible down over the throat and breast. The rest of under 

 surface white, tinged with a wash of ashy on sides and flanks. Bill and feet black. Iris dark 

 hazel. Dimensions: Wing, 3.65; tail, 3.75; tarsus, .95; middle toe and claw, .71; culmen, .50 inches. 



SYLVICOLID^. AMERICAN WARBLERS. 

 HELMINTHOPHAGA CLATA (Say) Baird. 



(18.) The Orange-Ceowned Waebleu. 



This is quite a common breeding bird of the interior of Northern Alaska during each summer, 

 but does not usually appear along the sea-coast until its young are fledged and are on their way 

 south. This takes place during the first half of August, at which time these birds are quite 

 numerous for one or two weeks, especially along the shore of Norton Sound. They are not known 

 to occur on the adjoining shore of Siberia, nor on any of the islands iu Bering's Sea. 



DENDRCBCA iESTIVA (Gmel.) Bd. 



(19.) The Yellow Warbler. 



A common summer resident in every alder and willow patch along the American mainland, 

 and more numerous on the shores of Norton and Kotzebue Sounds than elsewhere, owing mainly 

 to the abundance of its favorite shelter on these shores. Its familiar notes and bright i)lumage 

 render it one of the most attractive summer visitants. It is one of the few species of this grouj) 

 extending its range within the Arctic Circle, and has, perhaps, the prettiest plumage of its kind 

 reaching this high latitude in America. 



