CKUISE OP STEAMER COEWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 65 



lanius cristat0s. 



(25.) The Ckkstkd Shrike. 



As tlie last boat came off from Wraiigel Islam! ami the captain began to |)repare for getting 

 clear from the ice that the strong tide was bringing about ns with too much force for safety a 

 sailor came up to me in a shamefaced manner and held out a dried specimen of this bird which he 

 said he had picked up on the hillside and wished to know if I cared for it. As might be supposed 

 the mummy was taken in hand and is among the prizes secured during the cruise of the Corwin. 

 By the aid of alcohol it came safely to Washington, and Mr. Ridgway has carefully reproduced 

 it in the accomi)anying plate. It has been represented as perching upon a fragment of drift-wood 

 frozen in the ice, with the shores of Wrangel Island in the distance, the latter being from sketches 

 taken by myself as we were leaving tiiat place. I may refer to the fact that we found fragments 

 of drift-wood, not only upon this island but in the water about it, as several who have seen the 

 drawing have supposed that the jierch must necessarily have been introduced solely by a flight of 

 the artist's imagination. This is strictly an Asiatic bird, and its occurrence here upon the hillside 

 far above the tide-mark shows that it must have reached here alive, probably during some storm 

 and died subsequently of starvation or exposure. Although the bird was obtained the 12th of 

 August, yet it is a young of the year in its tirst plumage, of which the following is a description : 



The crown and upper part of the back is slightly dull rufous or chestnut; back lighter toward 

 rump where it is grayish and yellowish brown with dark bars. The upper tail coverts are russet 

 or reddish brown with dark barring near the end and tipped with grayish. The feathers of crown 

 and back are edged slightly with grayish, siiowing the immature plumage. The wings are brown 

 with color of the back extending over the shoulders, but with the coverts brown, edged with dull 

 buffy and grayish and becoming reddish in some instances. The tertiaries are edged broadly with 

 pale brownish yellow. The tail is reddish brown, nearly uniform, except the outer feather, which 

 is lighter than the inner. Belly nearly a uniform yellowish white, marked on breast and sides 

 with fine, wavy, and irregular bars of brownish or blackish, giving a loosely veriniculated appear- 

 ance to the lower surface. The throat is immaculate yellowish white. The lores are grayish white 

 shaded with buffy, which color extends back as an iiui)erfect supraorbital line, and the cheeks and 

 auriculars are yellowish white or pale buffy, finely maculated with dark edges to the feathers. 



The measurements of the bird are : 



Inches. 



Wing 3.40 



Tail.. 3.70 



Culmen .50 



Depth of bill at base .28 



Tarsus 98 



The graduation of the tail is nearly seventy-bundredths of an inch. 



HIEUNDINID.*:. SWALLOWS. 

 HIRUNDO ERYTHROGASTRA Bodd. 



(26.) The Barn Swallow. 



One of the most pleasant sights that meet the traveler's eye on landing at Saint Michael's is 

 the large number of common Barn Swallows which make their homes about the buildings. These 

 birds extend their range to the shores of Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean. Their cheerful 

 twittering and graceful motions as they circle and glide in wayward flight about the small collection 

 of log houses recall scenes of a far diflerent character than those which till the eye at this place. 

 Here they nest in deserted native houses or under the eaves of the few frame or log houses, and in 

 some instances seek the shelter of rocky caves and hidden spots on the faces of the clitt's, as was 

 seen on the north shore of Kotzebue Sound, where two nests were found i)laced far inside of a deep 

 cleft extending into a rocky cliff reaching out into the sea. The nests were in close proximity 

 upon a rocky shelf, while below them the waves dashed back and forth, breaking into spray within 

 a few inches of the nests. In the Aleutian Islands the swallow is scarce, and is said not to occur 

 H. Ex. 105 9 



