a er 
59 
DINNER TIME 
Notes from Alaska, 
Alaska certainly has a fine assortment of 
birds. One of my first takes here was a 
fine pair of banded- backed, three-toed Wood- 
peckers, a new bird for my collection. 
I have seen several Gyrfalcons, of what 
species I could not tell,as they kept circling 
about the mountain tops in most inaccessible 
places. LIalso flushed a flock of Yellow 
Wagtails from the beach one day while after 
some of the monster crabs we have here— 
my gun was back in the cabin, of course. 
Have had my first Ptarmigan hunt. Just 
at present they stay on the summit of the 
range. ‘The five I killed were the variety 
rupestris and had not fully assumed the 
white plumage. 
The Ravens and Fish Crows are always 
to be seen on the beach at any time of day. 
The Gulls are allnew to me. So far I have 
taken the Westeru, Red-legged Kittiwake, 
Short-billed and the Glaucous-winged. 
There are no Terns of any kind about at 
this season of the year. 
Marbled and Ancient Murrelets and other 
Divers are coming infrom the open water, 
as the weather gets severe, and Auks of 
many rare varieties afford good shooting 
on the mud flats. 
Eagles are very plenty wherever salmon 
streams occur—fine, bald*headed old fel- 
lows they are, too. The people here de- 
clare they have seen the young Eagles set- 
ting in the nests with white heads and tails. 
The Steller’s and Alaskan Jays of coursd 
are numerous and noisy,but I was surprisee 
to find the Magpie common also. 
There are several islands in the vicinity, 
I am told, that are breeding resorts for var- 
ious sea-birds. This will be investigated 
next spring and if I find any Great Auks 
nesting there will let you know. 
GEORGE G. CANTWELL. 
Juneau, Alaska. 
a a 
Measurements Corrected. 
Mr. Anthony informs me that there were some 
errors in the measurements given of the eggs of 
the Black, Socorro and Least Petrels in his article 
and presents the following measurements of the 
three species in inches and hundredth instead of 
millimetres: 
O. MELAINA. 
1.32x. 98 — 1.34xI.03 
1.35xI,02 — 1.38x .98 
1.35xXI.00 — 1.46x1.05 
1.38x1.04 — 1.44xI.05 
1.33X .99 — I1.34xI.02 
0. SOCORROENSIS. 
I.16x .g0o — I.12x .92 
1.22x .87 — 1.22x .89 
HALOCYPTENA. 
1,.06x .77. — 1.08x .75 
1.04x .76 — .97xX .70 
98x .75 — T1.05x -77 
.98x .75 — I1.01x .77 
1.06x .77 — 1.03x .70 
