Nelson on some Birds of St. Michael's, Alaska. 33 



AN AFTERNOON IN THE ^^CINITY OF ST. MICHAEL'S, 



ALASKA. 



BY E. W. NELSOX. 



The middle of August, 1878, after a series of northeasterly and 

 southwesterly gales, the low, dense clouds that for days had alter- 

 nately enveloped the land in misty fogs, or, lifting, had hurried by 

 in a swift unbroken stream, at last disappeared. Through con- 

 stantly widening patches of blue the sun showed its welcome face, 

 and, like hermits, we emerged from our shelter to bask in his rays 

 and relieve our oppressed spirits ; for nothing makes loneliness 

 more irksome than a long continuation of gloomy weather, of which 

 this favored spot has an abundance and to spare. The sea going 

 down rapidly, I concluded to make a trip to some small, rocky, out- 

 lying islands in the vicinity, where Puffins and other Sea Birds 

 congregate, and some of the former breed. Donning a seal-gut 

 over-shirt or kamlayka and a pair of seal-skin water-boots I em- 

 barked in my kyak and paddled out of the bay. Being rather out 

 of practice at the time, I found that it required all my skill to pre- 

 vent changing places with the bottom of the boat, as a heavy swell 

 was still running in ; so, to my chagrin, I was obliged to allow 

 a large straggling flock of Arctic Terns (^Sterna macrura), well 

 sprinkled with Aleutian Terns (^Sterna aleidica), to pass on either 

 hand unmolested, as they circled here and there, perfectly regardless 

 of my presence in their midst, except that one would now and then 

 turn about with a harsh cry, as though admonishing me not to in- 

 terfere with them. In a short time, recovering my dexterity, I 

 rounded a low basaltic bluff on one end of the first island, and was 

 in time to bring down a fine specimen of the Wandering Tattler 

 (Heferoscelus incanus), as it started off with a loud ringing hla Ma 

 Ma. The report of the gun, re-echoing from the opposite bluffs, 

 seemed to dislodge a perfect shower of Puffins from their resting- 

 places about the entrances to their burrows. Each came whirring 

 down by me, some almost into my face, to get a nearer view of the 

 intruder; then, after a wide circuit, they returned and dropped 

 heavily into the water a short distance off. The Common Puffins 

 {Mormon cirrhata) I found far less numerous than the Horned 



VOL. V. 3 



