2 PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA [No. i. 



rolling tundra. The peninsula at Cape Blossom separating Hotham Inlet from the 

 Sound proper is quite hilly, the greatest elevation being perhaps three hundred 

 feet above sea-level. Throughout the tundra lands and hilly country are numer- 

 ous ponds and lakes, some of considerable extent. These, in the lowest tundras 

 bordering the rivers and coast, are often connected in long series by deep chan- 

 nels or sloughs, thus rendering travel across such districts in summer very diffi- 

 cult. The land is mostly covered with a deep layer of moss and lichens. But 

 in depressions, and bordering the lakes and sloughs, are stretches of grass, in some 

 places growing quite tall, and in others forming smooth lawn-like meadows. In 

 the ravines and on the hillsides at Cape Blossom are considerable growths of 

 willow and dwarf alder averaging about three feet in height. In the interior 

 river valleys are extensive tracts of spruce, birch and cottonwood. The timber 

 does not reach the coast at any point, but at the mouths of the Noatak and Kowak 

 rivers dwarfed spruces extend to within ten miles of Hotham Inlet. In the Kowak 

 Valley the timber becomes larger and thicker towards its upper part, and the 

 spruces attain a height of fifty feet and a diameter of twenty inches or more. 

 Bordering the rivers and creeks are broad areas covered with alder and willow 

 brush. The numerous channels of the Kowak Delta are densely margined with 

 such thickets, and along the upper Kowak considerable areas are almost impene- 

 trable on this account. 



The Kowak Valley averages about fifteen miles wide, the north side being 

 formed by a range of mountains rising as high as four thousand feet, while on the 

 south a lower range forms the divide between the Kowak and Selawik. The map 

 accompanying this paper is intended to show all of the Iccaliiies referred to in the 

 Field Notes and Checklist. 



We found the climate in the Kowak Vallc}' not at all disagreeable. It is 

 much dryer than the coast region, and, although no tests were made, I should 

 jvidge the amount of precipitation during the interval from August, 'g8, to June, 

 '99, to have been not more than fifteen inches. During the winter the snow-fall 

 hardly amounted to three feet on a level all put together. Most of this fell in 

 March, and up to January but a few inches had fallen. The natives, however, 

 informed us that this was an unusually dry year and that ordinarily there is four 

 feet or more of snow. During the early part of the winter we experienced fre- 

 quent north winds, lasting for a week at a time. But the temperature at these 

 times was usually close to zero, seldom below lo degrees minus. The warm south- 

 east winds, temperature io°+ to 30° + , brought snow. Calm weather was invari- 

 ably the coldest and the mercury froze. The accompanying table of temperatures 

 was recorded during the eight months of our sta}^ at our winter camp. There was 

 no thawing weather until May 12th, and then the snow and ice began disappearing 

 in a hurry. By the iSth most of the snow in the valley had gone, and on the 21st 

 the ice broke up in the river and started floating down. The month of June 

 in the Kowak Delta was cold and stormy, snow falling on the 28th, and ice form- 

 ing on clear nights. The interior is certainly much warmer on an average in 

 summer than the coast district; and also much colder in winter, for at Escholtz 

 Bay the coldest recorded at the winter quarters of the "Penelope" was 45° — . 

 At our winter camp on the Kowak the coldest our spirit thermometer registered 

 was 56° — . But much colder weather, even down to 72° — , was reported by pros- 

 pectors further up the river and at greater elevations. 



