76 NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS IN ALASKA. 



Diiriug our several visits to the north coast of Siberia iu the summer of 1881 we found enor- 

 mous flocks of these birds frequentiug the broad river mouths and lagoons of this coast, northwest 

 of Bering Straits. 



In autumn, as they pass south, stray individuals and parties are found in Norton Sound. 

 Those taken there are usually young of the year. The earliest date of their capture at Saint 

 Michaels, during my stay, was on September 21, and the latest on October 15, just as the bay began 

 to freeze over. They are more numerous about this latter date. Six specimens, all young of the 

 year, taken on the date named, had dark-blue bills and slaty-olive feet and legs, with irides dark 



hazel. 



Their dimensions when fresh were from 16 inches in length by 27 inches in extent of wings to 

 17.25 by 29. 



When found at Saint Michaels they usually frequented outlying rocky islets and exposed reefs, 

 and fed in the small tide-rips. 



The shallow, turbid water of Norton Sound seems to be offensive to the majority of these 

 birds, as their chosen haunts are along coasts where the water is clear and deep close to the shore. 



This duck is rather common at Point Barrow, where they arrive early in June and leave by 

 the middle of August. Although Murdoch found small parties of these birds scattered over the 

 tundra there in the breeding season he found no nests. The majority of the breeding birds ap- 

 peared to go to some distant breeding ground. The males assume a brown plumage after the 

 breeding season, according to this naturalist. 



It is abirndant in winter on the Near Islands, where they breed sparingly. On the Com- 

 mander Islands they winter in great abundance, arriving about November 1 and leaving toward the 

 end of May. 



Arctonetta pischeri (Brandt). Spectacled Eider (Esk. Vng-ti). 



The Spectacled Eider has until recently been credited with a vei-y restricted range on the Bering 

 Sea coast of Alaska. It has been ascertained, however, to be a regular but rather rare summer 

 resident at Point Barrow, where it breeds. Murdoch took a female there with an egg in the 

 oviduct, ready for laying, ou June 19, and the nearly grown young were taken the last of August. 

 They arrive at the point, with the last of the other Eiders, in spring. The bird's occurrence here 

 greatly extends its known range, as does Turner's note of the species as a common breeding resi- 

 dent on the Near Islands. These two records nearly double the extent of the known habitat of 

 the species. 



Its restricted range has, up to the i^resent time, rendered this bird among the least known of our 

 water-fowl. Even in the districts where it occurs it is so extremely local that a few miles may lead 

 one to places they never visit. Although living so far north yet it is one of the last among the 

 water-fowl to reach its breeding ground at the Yukon delta and the coast of Norton Sound. My 

 observations show this species to be strictly limited to the salt marshes bordering the east coast 

 of Bering Sea, and thus favoring the shallow, muddy, coast waters, which appear to be so distaste- 

 ful to Steller's Eider. 



In Mr. Ball's paper upon the birds of Alaska he limits the breeding ground of the Spectacled 

 Eider to the marshes between the island of Saint Michaels and the mainland. This, with the state- 

 ment made to him by natives that they are never found north of Saint Michaels, is not borne 

 out by my observations, for these Eiders breed from the head of Norton Bay south to the mouth 

 of the Kuskoquira, at least. Saint Michaels may be noted as the center of abundance. They 

 were not seen by me iu Kotzebue Sound, although, from the natives, I was led to expect them 

 there. Strangely enoitgh, we have no positive information regarding their winter habitat, and 

 can only surmise that they frequent the Alaskan coast of the North Pacific. 



It was named to Mr. Ball by the Aleuts at Unalaska as a winter visitant, and he notes that 

 it migrates early in May for its northern breeding grounds. It was not noted by Elliott among 

 the birds of the Fur Seal Islands, nor is it known to have been taken at Kadiak Island. It is 

 very likely to occur ou this latter island in winter. 



In the vicinity of Saint Michaels they rarely begin to arrive before the loth of May. The 

 season of 1S79 they were first seen by me at the Yukon mouth ou this date, but the main body of 

 the migration did not take place until the 2.5th 



