Sept., 1907 SOME EXPERIENCES OF A COLLECTOR IN ALASKA 129 



here on the beach during the winter but they have gone back to the mountains 

 now. 



May 4. — You will probably get this letter on the installment plan as I will 

 keep writing off and on as the spirit moves me until the boat comes and I have a 

 chance to send the letter to Juneau. 



I took a fine set of Bald Eagle on the 30th of April. The nest was in the very 

 tip-top of a broken-topped spruce, 116 feet from the ground. The nest was seven 

 feet in diameter and big and strong enough so that I could stretch out in it. The 

 eggs were fresh and are not much nest stained. The old birds wouldn't fight 

 at all! 



I took a female, nest and four fresh eggs of a Townsend Fox Sparrow yester- 

 day. I think it is townsendi; any way I have seven specimens now so that I guess 

 I can find out when we get back to civilization. The nest was about 50 feet back 

 from high tide in a thick clump of spruce boughs that drooped almost to the 

 ground. The nest was about eight feet up. The whole vicinity was dark and 

 damp and the nest hung over a pool of water. These sparrows look and act almost 

 like step hens i. I found the nest a week ago by watching the female carry 

 feathers. I had to wade thru snow to get the nest yesterday so perhaps that will 

 throw some light on the date of breeding of stephensi. 



Mr. lyittlejohn got two Crossbills yesterday and one today, all males in breed- 

 ing condition. One was almost one-third less in size than the other but was evi- 

 dently the same species. They are not White- winged. 



We fired into a flock of about a dozen waders the other day and picked up 

 four Aleutian Sandpipers, a Black Turnstone and a Surf Bird. We were surprised 

 to find all three species together. 



The Indians up here think that they own the whole country. They have tried 

 several schemes to get us out. They want us to pay them for hunting here. 

 Whatever their faults may be they certainly are candid. One old squaw came over 

 the other day and we finally got her to talk English, and she said: "Bear he heap 

 smart, he hear gun he no come. You white men damn fools; shoot! shoot!! 

 shoot!!! all the time." It seems to be beyond their thick heads to imagine what 

 we want with the little birds. But of course we have to shoot them. 



May g. — We took a set of Western Golden-crowned Kinglet this morning. 

 We took the whole thing: female bird, nest (part of tree attached), and seven fresh 

 eggs. How would you like to have that to stick away in the corner of your 

 cabinet? The nest was found by I^ittlejohn about ten days ago while we were 

 looking for a sparrow's nest. It was right on the beach on the south side limbs of 

 a fir tree. The nest is the prettiest that I have ever seen and was well hid, the 

 green moss of which it was composed blending with the green leaves. The nest 

 was semipensile and was about twelve feet up. The eggs are peculiar. They are 

 about the size of Bushtit's but are longer drawn out. The ground color is a 

 creamy white and near the middle there is a well defined wreath of fine golden 

 specks. There are lots of the Sitka Kinglets here too, and when we have more 

 time we hope to find one of their nests. 



Mr. lyittlejohn got a male White-winged Crossbill the other day. They are 

 evidently breeding now and are very shy and stay way up high. I had to climb 

 about 80 feet the other day to get one that had been shot and lodged. We are get- 

 ting lots of new waders now but the mammals seem about played out so we are 

 working at Miss Alexander's suggestion on birds. 



Mole Harbor., Adniiralty Is!a)id, Alaska; June 2, IQOJ. — We just got back 

 yesterday from a trip into the interior of the island. We have been here just two 



