CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN EST THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 75 



I obtained a skin from a native on the coast near Bering Straits, and was informed that the bird 

 occurred there rarely in summer, and that it nested regularly among the scattered forests a short 

 distance in the interior. It is unknown elsewhere in the region under discnssion. 



ALCEDINID^. KINGFISHERS. 

 CERTLE ALCYON (Linn.) Bole. 



(53.) The Belted Kingfisher. 



Although a not uncommon resident in the interior, along the numerous water courses, this 

 bird is extremely rare on the sea-coast. A single specimen was brouglit in by a native from the 

 shore near the mouth of a small river to the north of Saint Michael's, and I heard of its capture at 

 one or two other places on the shore of Norton Sound. Elsewhere I do not know of its occurence, 

 although it is likely to be found about Bristol Bay and perhaps the shores of Kotzebue Sound, 

 where several fresh-water streams occur. 



STRIGID^. OWLS. 

 ASIO ACCIPITRINUS (Pall.) Newton. 



(54.) The Short-eared Owl. 



Along the entire Aleutian chain and thence north along the mainland of Alaska to Point Bar- 

 row this bird is found. As a summer resident on the Aleutian Islands, Dall found it rather com- 

 mon and found it nesting in burrows on the hillsides. In May, 1877, I found a pair of short-eared 

 owls near Unalaska frequenting the hillsides and becoming very active after sunset. Several times 

 while hunting, at this time of day, I disturbed the birds and found them extremely shy, so much so 

 that they would take flight a hundred j'ards or more in advance, uttering at the same time a loud 

 rolling cry. During the several years succeeding this I found they arrived the last of May or first 

 of June along the coast of Alaska to the north, where they are summer residents and at times 

 quite numerous. There is no record of the bird from the islands in Bering Sea, with the exception 

 of the Aleutian chain, though its well known wandering habits undoubtedly take it to them at 

 times. Neither is it recorded from the adjacent coast of Siberia, but its range extends through 

 this region. On the Alaskan coast of the Arctic it is found nearly if not quite to Point Barrow. 



ULULA CINEREA (Gmel.) Bp. 



(55.) The Great Gray Owl. 



This fine Owl can be reckoned as a very rare visitant to the shores of Bering Sea, its prefer- 

 ence for wooded country limiting its range to those parts of the interior where spruce and other 

 trees afford it congenial shelter. Stray individuals -occur at times along the shores of Norton 

 Sound, where the near approach of the forests to the sea along the banks of the various streams 

 flowing into the sound afford it a convenient highway. As might be inferred from the lack of 

 timber, it is a totally unknown species on all the islands of Bering Sea, and I do not think it is 

 found on the opposite Siberian coast, unless by accident, as the following species vists the Alaskan 

 shore. 



ULULA CINEREA LAPPONICA (Retz.) Ridgw. 



(56.) The Lapland Owl. 



But a single instance is known of this bird's occurrence in the region covered by this paper 

 and the only American record as well. This record rests upon a specimen secured some years 

 since by L. M. Turner at Saint Michael's, Norton Sound. It is a well-known species in the wooded 

 parts of North Europe and Siberia and only occurs on the bare, forbidding coast countr^^ as a 

 stray wanderer. 



