BIRDS. 203 



arrive in this region. A specimen iu the National Museum collection was ohtaiued at Fort Kenai, 

 June S, and they itrobably breed as far soutli as this point along the coast, if not still farther. On 

 June 4 specimens were obtained at Saint Michaels, and on the Sth and 10th of June its eggs have 

 been taken at Fort Yukon. Mr. Dall notes its arrival at 2!^ulato about May 15. Its early arrival 

 here is very i-emarkable, since Mr. Allen has never noted it in Western Massachusetts earlier 

 than May 20, whereas the bird arrives in the far north, near the Arctic Circle, five days earlier 

 than it is known to arrive in Western Massachusetts. It is also recorded as the last of the 

 migrants in Central Vermont, where it is seen only for a few days in early June. In the autumn 

 it starts on its return to the south about the 1st of August, the last being seen about the 20th of 

 this month. On the shores of Norton Sound iu fall, as in spring, it frequents the vicinity of the 

 dwellings, and searches industriously over old board fences and log houses for insects. It is 

 stated that it usually builds its nest in bushes, a few feet from the ground; but some Arctic 

 nests are placed directly upon the ground. This latter variation iu habit probably accords with 

 the locality, since it nests in bushes when the latter are to be found. 



A young male commencing to lose its tirst plumage, taken on the 1st of August, 1S79, at Saint 

 Michaels, presents the following characteristics : 



Feathers of the back gray with a central shaft-line of black, edged along the tip with dark, 

 giving an irregular faintly-barred appearance. The crown is dull olive-green, this color having 

 evidently replaced a shade similar to that on the rump, but darker. The first plumage remains, 

 however, as an obsolescent superciliary line, which is dark grayish, mottled and bordered with 

 dusky. Sides of the head the same as the superciliary stripe. An olive-green wash extends from 

 the feathers of back to the sides of head aud neck, and includes the edges of the wing-feathers, 

 wheie it is brightest on edges of primaries. Wings dark ashy-brown; tertiaries edged with white, 

 washed with olive green. Coverts broadly tipped with white, forming two very distinct wing- 

 bars. Secondaries and inner primaries slightly tipped with white. Tail-coverts and outer edges 

 of tail-feathers ashy; the former lightest. Tail brown, with a white spot close to the tip of the 

 two tail-feathers ; in size and pattern exactly like the adult. On the third tail-feather on inner 

 web near the tip is a small white spot, which, though small, is distinct. Abdomen and under 

 tail-coverts dingy white, faintly streaked along the shaft and tipped with dark. Throat, breast, 

 aud sides dingy grayish-white, finely tipped on the edges with black, and faintly washed with 

 dusky greenish-yellow. The breast and sides are strongly marked with a distinct greenish yellow 

 area, owing to the presence of feathers belonging to the second plumage. From what is left of 

 the first plumage it is evident that, iu this stage, the bird is dingy gray with dark edging aud 

 shaft-streaks washed with a faint yellowish, producing an indistinct dingy yellow. 



Dendroica townsendi (Xutt.). Townsend's Warbler. 



Hartlaub (Jour. Orn. IJeut. Cent., July, 1883, p. 267) states that this species was seen once by 

 Dr. Krause, on May 27, in conifers of Upper Dejtih Valley, Alaska, which is probably the most 

 northern point from which it has yet been recorded. He also adds tliat there is a single specimen 

 of this species from Sitka in the Bremen and Stockholm collection. 



Seiubus aueocapillus (Linn.). Oven-bird. 



From Fort Yukon some distance down the river this bird is known to breed. Dall tells us 

 that it is not common in that region, and on May 30 he secured a single specimen above JS^ulato : 

 he adds that the natives called it the grandfather of the Euby-crowned Kinglet. At Mission, on 

 the Lower Yukon, a single dried skin was seen in an Eskimo hut, in the winter, whicli is the only 

 addition I can make to the history of the bird within the limits of the Territory. It is thus far 

 unknown from the coast aud islands of Bering Sea, as well as the coast region of Southeastern 

 Alaska, apparently i)enetrating the Territory by the way of the Ui)per Yukon, from its range 

 through the British fur countries to the east. 



Its nesting range extends within the Arctic Circle on the Cppcr Yukon and LoTer Miickenzie 

 Elvers. 



