40 PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA [No. i. 



tjrned and made for my head like a shot. It planted itself with its full-weight onto 

 my skull, drawing blood from three claw-marks in my scalp. My hat was torn and 

 thrown twelve feet. All this the owl did with scarcely a stop in its headlong 

 swoop. When as far the other side the courageous bird made another dash, and 

 then another, before I had collected enough wits to get in a shot. The female, 

 which was evidently the bird I had first discovered on lookout duty, then made 

 her appearance, but was less vociferous. The nest contained three newly-hatched 

 young and six eggs in various advanced stages of incubation. The downy young, 

 although their ej-es were still tightly closed and they were very feeble, uttered a 

 continuous wheedling cry, especially if the tree were tapped or they were in any 

 way jarred. This could be heard 20 feet away from the base of the tree. The 

 nest cavity was evidently an enlarged woodpecker's hole. The wood was very 

 much decayed and soft, so that it had been an easy matter to enlarge the entrance. 

 The entrance was 14 feet above the snow, and the nest proper was about three 

 inches below that. The cavity was lined with a mixture of feathers and bits of 

 the rotten wood. The feathers were all apparently from the breast of the female 

 parent. The female bird (the male not at all, although he was sitting on the nest 

 when it was found) had the whole breast and abdomen, from the upper end of the 

 breast-bone to the vent, entirely bare of feathers; also on the sides up to the lateral 

 feather tracts, and through these for about one inch on both sides under the wings; 

 also down the inside of the thighs to the knees. This was the most extensive 

 feather divestment I ever saw in any species. The skin of this area was very 

 thick and glandular, emitting a watery fluid on the inside when squeezed, and 

 filled with distended blood vessels and some fat. This is obviously a warmth- 

 producing organ. The feathers removed from it were evidently mostly used in 

 the nest lining. Although I met with a good many Hawk Owls during the latter 

 part of May, this was the only nest I found. The six eggs average 1.64x1.26, and 

 in shape are nearly short-ovate. The native name for this bird is Ne-ak-tor'uk, 

 which means "big-head." 



Ceryle alcyon (Xinn.). 



Belted Kingfisher. 



One or two Belted Kingfishers were noted almost daily at our winter camp 

 on the Kowak during the last week of August. They would fly along the bank 

 uttering their harsh clattering notes, occasionally perching on a snag or tree in- 

 clined over the water. The last kingfisher was seen on September 2nd. The first 

 for the following spring was heard May 21st. Although I did not personally find 

 this species nesting, the Indians were familiar with its habits, and told me of the. 

 nesting-burrow dug in the sandy bank of a stream. 



Picoides americanns alascaisis (Nels.). 

 Alaskan Three-toed Woodpecker. 



This, the only species of woodpecker detected by me in the Kowak region, 

 was resident throughout the year. It could scarcely be called common, though 

 its borings were noticed in nearly every tract of spruces visited. In the fall and 

 mid-winter these birds were silent and seldom seen. But after the first of March 

 their drumming on some resonant dead tree was heard nearly every morning. 



