STATUS AND DISTRIBUTION 



257 



they came to the sea." Since that time new observations have been 

 made, but Barrow is still a locality where unusual birds appear so 

 often that its exceptional avifauna warrants further comment. 



Out of the 126 species counted as from near Barrow in table 7, about 

 17 are still known from only one specimen and 8 from only two speci- 

 mens. For many years expert naturalists have studied at Barrow. 

 In addition to the published accounts of these distinguished natural- 

 ists there are the observations, extending over 60 years, of Cliarles 

 Brower and his sons, a family which has provided the first specimens 

 of 63 species and subspecies of the birds now known from arctic 

 Alaska. From his vivid, pictorial memory and with precise recollec- 

 tions of time and circumstances Thomas Brower has related to me that 

 these rare appearances of unusual birds clearly implied to him that 

 they had come as strangers to Barrow. 



Table 6. — Distances from their nearest reported nesting grounds of some 



birds recorded at Barrow 



MUes 



from 



nearest 



nesting 



place 



Birds 



Sped- 

 mens 



2400 



Piranga ollvacea 



1 



1800 



Tyrannus tyrannus 



1 



1800 



Euphagus cyanocephalns 



1 



1200 



Troglodytes troglodytes alascensis 



1 



1100 



Agelalus phoenlcus arctolegus 



1 



1100 



Piranga ludoviciana 



1 



1000 



Charadrlus voclferas vociferus 



2 



1000 



Chordeiles minor minor 



1 



900 



Splzella passerlna boreophlla 



1 



800 



Hylocichla guttata guttata 



1 



800 



Passerella Iliaca unalaschcensis 



2 



800 



Oporomls tolmiel 



2 



800 



Contopus sordldulus 



1 



700 



Falco sparverlus 



2 



600 



Sialla cumicoides 



3 



300 



Tachyclneta thalasslna 



2 



300 



Irldoprocne blcolor 



4 



300 



Hirundo erythrogaster 



6 



300 



Petrochelldon pyrrhonota 



3 



300 



Riparla rlparia 



8 



300 



Dendroica coronata 



3 



200 



Wllsonia pusilla 



4 



Some land birds found at Barrow were far from their known nest- 

 ing grounds and on a terrain and in a climate very strange to them. 

 Some of these strange birds from Bailey's report with my estimate of 

 the distance to their usual nesting grounds are listed in table 6. The 

 location of their nearest nesting ground was obtained from the A.O.U. 

 Check-list (1957) or from my own experience with birds nesting in 

 Alaska. Although better information may modify the estimated 



