1909] The 1907 Alexander Alaska Expedition. 209 
the mountain side, hover for a moment and then swoop down, 
and alight on a rock, uttering their loud rasping eall, which 
sounds similar to the noise produced by running a lead pencil 
over a stiff rubber comb.”’ 
Dixon’s account of the finding of the species near Port Fred- 
erick, July 30, is as follows: ‘‘I was crawling down a ledge on 
the north side of the rocky summit of a mountain at 2700 feet 
altitude. About twenty-five feet below me a sharp rock jutted 
out, forming the crest of a hundred-foot cliff. I had glanced 
along the ledge below but saw nothing, when suddenly a gray- 
backed ptarmigan rose from a bunch of heather on a narrow 
ledge and trotted out on a jutting rock, bobbing its head and 
watching me intently the while. I fired a light charge at the 
bird which dropped over the chff. At the report two other 
ptarmigan jumped up and started swiftly away. I dropped 
one with the remaining barrel. Then I began the descent to 
retrieve the birds. By going down to one side of the cliff I had 
almost reached its base when I came to a sheer drop; so I had to 
dig my fingers into the erevices and work my way back up again. 
By going a long way around I finally reached a twenty-foot 
snow drift at the foot of the cliff and there I found my two birds 
dead. Both had their crops stuffed with heather buds.”’ 
Accipter velox (Wilson). Sharp-shinned Hawk. 
Three specimens were secured, male and female (Nos. 268, 
269) with nest and eggs at Hasselborg Lake, Admiralty Island, 
May 25, and an immature (No. 149) at Bear Bay, Baranof Isl- 
and, August 26. I cannot see any decided characters that would 
seem to distinguish these from California or Atlantie Coast birds. 
The immature presents an extreme of darkness, and with per- 
haps more than the average depth of hazel tippings and edgings 
to the feathers dorsally, and this might prove constant in a series. 
The other two, although breeding birds, do not show the clear 
slaty backs and barred under surface of fully adult sharp-shinned 
hawks. Instead they look like somewhat faded-out immatures, 
their backs being dull fuseous, and the lower surface for the 
most part streaked. Probably they were yearlings. The species 
