©fje Harhler 



ii 



I got the first fresh eggs of Murre and Pacific Kittiwake, and July 14th those of 

 Horned Puffin. 



After a week's time spent with the collecting of the different 

 species named -above, I made preparations to leave for the mainland, but to 

 my disappointment the ice had then begun to open up and move so much 

 that the natives were not to be persuaded to take me the twelve miles over 

 the ice to the nearest shore. I had therefore to wait till the strait was about 

 free of ice, and on the 15th of July I was able to cross with a party of na- 

 tives in one of their large skin-boats to the western shore of the mouth of 

 Kolintschen Bay. The landscape consists here of flats with countless lakes 

 and lagoons of all sizes and forms, and as the territory rather may be called 

 swamps than tundras it proved to be a poor collecting country. The only 

 shore-birds to be found in this wet locality were numerous Red Phalaropes, 

 and in only one instance I met with a family of American Golden Plover. 



The birds in and about the lakes also proved to be of little value — noth- 

 ing but Old Squaws, Red Throated Loons and Pacific Loons were to be found in 

 these fresh waters. No geese were observed during my stay here, but alono- 

 the coast hundreds of King Eiders, Pacific Eiders and Steller Ducks were seen 

 daily, and it remains a mystery to me where they breed, as there were no 

 islands or rocks along the coast fit for breeding places for birds of the duck 

 family. A number of Long laded Jaegers were seen flying in bands and evi- , 

 dently not breeding in the locality. The only fresh eggs I got during my 

 stay here were those of the Pacific Loon. These nests were built floating be- 

 tween "star-grass" and made of the same material, on two feet of water in 

 fresh water lakes. The first set of fresh eggs was taken July 18, although, 

 I, during the first couple of days, found out that these swamps were a poor 



Ice Covering the Beach After a " Squeeze," July 8, Kolintschen Bay 

 A Man is Seen on Top of the Ice-piles 



