ZOOLOGY OF NAGAI ISLAND 8i 



Of land birds, however, I observed only ravens, flycatchers 

 {Grisola) ,^'''^ snowbirds (Emberiza nivalis), ^"^^ willow ptarmigans 

 (Tetmo Lagopiis),^^^ and no others whatever. 



The fishes which we saw were the malma (a kind of salmon) i^° 

 and ramslia {Cottus scorpius).^^^ Of trees, not a single one was 

 to be seen on any of the eight islands lying here together in a 

 circumference of six German miles; [it was] otherwise on those 

 which we saw on August 4 on the same parallel ^^^ ^^d which 

 cannot have been more than 40 miles from here. All the islands 

 situated between here and Kamchatka, at least those which we 



1" The "flycatcher" seen by Steller on Nagai Island (Pallas by adding 

 the word Grisola probably only means to conjecture that it was a gray 

 flycatcher) was neither a muscicapine nor probably a tyrannine bird. 

 The Old World flycatchers are not represented in the western hemisphere, 

 and the only American flycatcher which suggests itself, viz. the western 

 wood pewee (Myiochanes richardsoni (Swainson)), is not known from 

 that part of Alaska. It is much more likely that Steller mistook the dwarf 

 thrush {Hylocichla guttata (Pallas)) for a flycatcher, a not unnatural mis- 

 take, especially when we consider that Pallas, with specimens before him, 

 described it as Muscicapa guttata (Zoogr. rosso-asiat.. Vol. i, 181 1, p. 

 465). The dwarf thrush is recorded from the Shumagins by Keeler 

 (Harriman Alaska Expedition, Vol. 2, 1910, p. 228). (S) 



"8 The "snowbird" is undoubtedly the snowflake, Plectrophenax 

 nivalis (Linnaeus), of which specimens from the Shumagins are in the 

 U. S. National Museum. (S) 



179 The willow ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus (Linnaeus)) is probably 

 the form alexandrae Grinnell, recorded as occurring as far west as the 

 Shumagin Islands (Check-List of North American Birds, Prepared by a 

 Committee of the American Ornithologists' Union, 3rd edit.. New York, 

 1910, p. 141). It was collected on Unga Island of that group by Bean 

 {Proc. U. S. Natl. Museum, Vol. 5. 1882, p. 163). (S) 



180 The malma is a charr (Salvelinus malma (Walbaum)), also known in 

 Russian as the golets, and common throughout the region. (S) 



181 Ramsha is the name by which the Russians in Kamchatka know the 

 red sculpin {Hemilepidotiis hemilepidotus (Tilesius)), recorded by Pallas 

 as Cottus scorpius (Zoogr. rosso-asiat., Vol. 3, 1831, p. 130). which name 

 properly belongs to the European sculpin {Myoxocephalus scorpius (Lin- 

 naeus)). (S) 



182 Semidi Islands. They are on the 56th parallel, the Shumagins on 

 the 55th. 



