34 



OEI^ITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 12-No. 3 



had been surprised on every visit I made to the 

 island by seeing nmnbers of Putiin's skins lay- 

 ing around on the rocks near the shore, and lit- 

 erally turned inside out. They were generally 

 opened upon the back, and a great many skins 

 I noticed were not torn a particle more th;m 

 was necessary to get the skins over the body ; 

 then the legs were picked out, the wings thor- 

 oughly cleaned as far as the carpal point, the 

 head was also drawn out and brain and eyes re- 

 moved and skull cleaned to base of 1)ill. I knew 

 it was not done in the day-time and the Short- 

 eared Owls were the most likely depredators I 

 could call to mind, but it did not take me long- 

 to decide after looking at those skins for a few 

 moments that taxidermy was an art long before 

 man ever took it up. 



Ceryle r/7(V/0H, Belted Kingtisher. On May the 

 22nd this species arrived at Esquimaux Point, 

 and at various times I saw perhaps a dozen dif- 

 ferent individuals but did not meet with any 

 elsewhere. 



Picoides arcticus, Arctic Three-toed AVood- 

 pecker. One specimen killed in early Septem- 

 ber at Esquimaux Point. It was in company 

 with its mate. 



Empidunax Flaviventris., Yellow-bellied Fly- 

 catcher. One dead bird was i)icked up and 

 brought me at f'ajje Whittle in early July. 



Otoeons alj:>c><tris^ Horned Lark, (^nly ol)- 

 served at Cape Whittle, where two or three 

 pair were located. It is an exceedingly tine 

 singer, in fact the sweetest I ever hearil. sur- 

 passing even the Winter AVren. I nnght say 

 that I determined the identity of this Aaiiety 

 by a reference to the A. O. U. list, and seeing 

 where such and such a thing ought to occur, 

 which I am afraid is the only method for us 

 poor mortals of the lower strata to do, but how- 

 ever, we will probal)ly soon see some ornithol- 

 ogical detective around with a desi-riptive war- 

 rant of arrest for breach of i)romise against 

 some poor Lark found outside his prescrilied 

 limits, and then what a holocaust of names 

 there'll be. 



Perisoreus canadensis nuiricapnius. Laltrador 

 Jay. On my return to Esquimaux Point, the 

 first week in September, I was kept exceed- 

 ingly busy ijacking my specimens and getting 

 ready to leave the coast, so my gun received 

 but little exercise, and although I was closely 

 confined to the house I was soon made aware 

 of an hnmense migration of these jays which 

 was taking place. Right directly back from 

 the house the low hills terminated in a straight 

 line at right angles with the coast, and in a 

 path which ran along the foot of these hills I 



took my stand and waited for the jays as they 

 came straggling down the hillside. The flocks 

 varied in size from a dozen to fifty or so indi- 

 viduals and kept following each other so close- 

 ly that an interval of ten nunutes between two 

 flocks was a rarity and they never varied their 

 line of migration but kej)! right on, taking 

 short listless flights from tree to tree. I de- 

 voted but two forenoons to them and although 

 I had nothing but squib charges of dust to kill 

 them with, being out of mediiun sized shot, I 

 killed ninety and could easily have trebled that 

 nundjer had I wished. How long the force of 

 the migration kept up I cannot say but 1 know 

 there were still a few passing by when 1 left 

 the country ten days later. 



Curous corax sinuatus, American liaven. 

 Rather a common resident along the whole 

 Laltrador coast, remaining the whole year 

 around. 



('orcns uiiiericaiiiis, American ('row. Not a 

 rare bird along the wh(de coast, but iloes not 

 remain to face the winter. 



/Scolecojjhayiis caroU)ins, Rusty Blackbird. 

 Latter part of May saw five in a swamp at 

 Esquimaux Point, but they diil not remain, 

 having evitlently just arrived from the south. 



.linr<idraiiuis sand inch piisis sa fauna, Savannah 

 Si)arrow. The connnonest of all the land birds 

 I saw, and breeds abundantly on all the treeless 

 islands I visited. 



Zunutricliia Icncophrys, White-crowned Spar- 

 row. At Esquimaux Point one was brought 

 me on May 18th, A\hich was the first I saw; 

 none others were observed except at Cape 

 Whittle, where I located a few pair in some 

 small patches of stunted si)ruces. but found no 

 nests. 



Znnotrir/tia alhicaJIis, White-throated S])ar- 

 row. Seemed to arrive at Esquimaux Point on 

 May the 2()th and soon became connnon ; did 

 not see them to the eastward of that place and 

 doubt if they leave the heavy timber. 



Passerella iliaca. This species also arrived at 

 Esquimaux Point on ^lay 20th, soon becoming 

 connnon and then rare again, evidently passing 

 further north to nest ; but at Hegaska, on my 

 return in August, I saw a pair with their young. 



Tachycineta hicalor, Tree Sparrow. This, the 

 old White-bellied Swallow, of recent though 

 vulgar literatm-e, arrived on the coast May the 

 22nd, when I saw two. Later in July, several 

 passed the house one day at Cape Whittle; 

 these were the last I saw. 



Dendrcpca a'stiva. Yellow Warbler. One seen 

 on June 4th at Kegaska, another in August at 

 same place. 



