200 NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS IN ALASKA. 



aloug the open coast of BeriDg Sea and the adjoining portion of the Arctic; but it is far more 

 numerons inland, and apparently is most abundant high up the Yukon, as the greater number of the 

 specimens brought me by the fur traders were from Fort Reliance, on the Upper Yukon, near the 

 British boundary line. 



Nuttall tells us that in some parts of New England this Shrike is called the "Mocking-bird," 

 on account of its imitation of the notes of smaller birds, though its more usual notes resemble the 

 discordant creaking of a sign-board hinge. On November 10 he heard one uttering a low, soft' 

 warble resembling that of the Song-sparrow, changing the note immediately afterward to that of 

 the Cat-bird. 



While at the Yukon mouth the last of May, 1S79, I had the good fortune to observe this 

 bird several times, and also to hear its song. On May, 1879, while the ground was still largely 

 covered with snow, I was passing through a thicket where the winter's drifts still lay deep 

 enough to half buiy the bushes, when suddenly a low, soft, musical whistle, consisting of a half 

 dozen liquid trills, ending in two or three strange grating notes, fell upon my ear. After a 

 slight pause this was repeated, and with some difficulty, a moment later, I made out the indistinct 

 form of a bird close to the ground in a dense bush, about L'O yards in advance, where it had evi- 

 dently concealed itself on my approach. I hastily fired into the bush to secure, as I supposed, 

 some rarity, and, hurrying forward to gain the prize, was more surprised than pleased to find noth- 

 ing but the ordinary Shrike. On another occasion I was led a long chase through a piece of 

 tangled wood, bordering one of the Yukon channels in the delta, by some strange and musical 

 notes unlike anything I had ever heard before, which appeared to be uttered close at hand, 

 and a moment later to be far away. After a considerable time, as the wood became more open, 

 the author of these notes was found skulking from tree to tree, in advance, and a long shot 

 brought down another Shrike. 



In his list of the birds of the Territory, Mr. Dall records but a single specimen of this bird, 

 which was brought him at Nnlato by a native in winter and he considered it uncommon. 



A considerable number of specimens brought me by the far traders from the various parts of 

 the Territory show, however', that it is a rather common, if not an abundant, species in the in- 

 terior, although on the sea-coast it is to be classed as uncommon or rare. Specimens were brought 

 me by Eskimo from the head of Kotzebue Sound and Norton Bay. 



Kennicott noticed this species at Fort Simpson in September, and again in October, and heard 

 them uttering a low, irregular, and varied but musical song. It breeds far to the north, as is shown 

 by a female bird in the National Museum collection, taken the 11th of June, 1S63, in the An- 

 derson River region, latitude 09°, with six eggs. This specimen is in immature plumage, and is 

 probably a bird of the preceding year. The summer and winter plumages of the perfectly adult 

 birds can be distinguished, as is stated in the History of North American Birds, by the lores, 

 which are jet black in summer and gray in winter; the clear ashy-gray of the back and 

 crown is a little less clear in winter, the white beneath less pure. The young require from 

 two to three years to attain the perfect state, as is shown in a large series before me. A female 

 shot at the Yukon mouth, May 13, which was mating, has the entire lores grayish white and the 

 frontal patch of the same. The back, wings, and under surface cannot be told from the ordinary 

 winter birds. Other summer specimens show the same characters grading into the perfect 

 plumage by several stages. Among about a dozen specimens from Alaska only three are adults. 

 The undulating vermiculated bars which cover the entii'e lower surface of the young of the year 

 are gradually restricted until, in the adult, they occupy the breast and a portion of the sides, leav- 

 ing the throat and abdomen immaculate. The feather markings prodncing this vermiculation are 

 less obvious Iti the adult bird. 



I do not think that the Shrikes nest along the open seacoast except where, as at the Y^ukon 

 mouth and the head of Norton Bay, dense bushes and trees abound. 



Helminthophaga celata (Say). Drange-crowued Warbler (Esk. same as Ken- 

 nicott's Warbler). 



Throughout the wooded region of Northern Alaska, from the British boundary line west to 

 the shores of Bering Sea, and from the Alaskan range of mountains north within the Arctic Circle 



