IQ2 NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS IN ALASKA. 



strayed evea to Greeulaud, where, at Neuortalik, it was obtained August 29, 1840. It is very com- 

 mon in Wasbingtou Territory, and the types of the species were obtained from the Sas- 

 katchewan in latitude 54°, north of which, until the present, there appears to be no record but 

 that from Greenland. The natives informed me that it is not uucommon in the vicinity of Anvik, 

 where my specimens were secured, and they described its usual habit of perching on the top 

 of tall trees, whence it makes forays for insects, so there is little chance that they were mis- 

 taken. It probably reaches as far north in the Rocky Mountain region as the preceding species, and 

 along the coast north of Washington Territory probably to the Sitkan region. Like a number 

 of other birds its northern range will be considerably extended when a careful summer survey 

 has been made through the wooded portions of Northern Alaska, the animal life of which, at 

 present, is but little known. 



Empidonax difficilis Baird. Baird's Flycatcher. 



A single specimen taken by Dr. Bean on June 5, 1880, at Sitka, is the only record of its capt- 

 ure in Alaska, but as others were seen at the same place it is probably a regular summer resident 

 in that district. 



185. Empidonax pusillus (Swains.). Little Flycatcher. 



A single male of this widely- spread little bird was brought me from Nulato in the spring of 

 1878, and a second specimen was secured at Saint Michaels the same season. The natives knew 

 the bird and told me it was not common. Hartlaub records a single specimen seen in Lower 

 Dejilh Valley May 24. The above specimens comprise all the known Alaskan examples. It may be 

 considered as an irregular, though probably not abundant, summer resident. Kennicott and 

 others found it nesting iu alder-bushes near Fort Resolution in latitude 62° north, in the Hudson's 

 Bay country, and it probably extends its range far beyond this on the Yukon and Mackenzie 

 Rivers. 



Otocokis alpestris leucol^ma (Coues). Pallid Horned Lark. 



Throughout Alaska this species appears to be very rare. Two specimens were taken in the 

 vicinity of Saint Michaels during my residence there, and three were secured on the Upper Yukon 

 by Mr. McQuesten on April 3 and 30, 1S79. All of these birds are spring males and typical of this 

 variety. It is much more common on the headwaters of the Yukon daring spring and summer than 

 along the shores of Bering Sea, where it can only be counted a very rare straggler. It has not 

 been recorded from any of the Bering Sea islands nor from the adjoining Asiatic coast. Not a 

 single individual was seen by us during the summer of 1881 anywhere along the Alaskan coast 

 north to Point Barrow.. In addition to the specimens obtaiued by me is a single bird secured on 

 the Yukon by Dall. All of these birds are very pale, but are far less bleached than the peculiar 

 variety in the National Museum collection from Astrakhan, which is labeled " variety bet." This 

 bird has almost uniformly faded to a pale grayish ashy above and white below, and probably 

 rei)resents a well-marked local race. The typical alpestris apparently does not occur in Alaska, 

 and the specimens taken at Portage Bay and at Dejiih Pass, in the southeastern part of the Territory, 

 and recorded by Hartlaub, are doubtless referable here. In Oregon and Washington Territory, 

 and perhaps throughout British Columbia, is found a small, very brightly- colored form, with the 

 rufous of the back and the yellow, which in some specimens extends over the throat and entire under 

 parts, very intense. Whether this form extends its range to the southern border of the Territory 

 cannot be ascertained until that region has been visited and more thoroughly examined than it has at 

 present. Richardson found the Shore Lark on the coast of the Arctic at the mouth of the Mac- 

 kenzie River, and a single wandering specimen has been taken in Greenland.* 



* Alaada ai-veiisis, quoted iu the Ilistorj' of North American Birds [vol. II, p. 13G], as occurring on the Aleutiau 

 Islands, apparently rests its claim upon tlie fact of Steller having found an allied species on the Kurile and Com- 

 mander Islands, near the Kamehatlian coast, wliich, of course, does not warrant its being included here. 



