IS 



Field Notes on the Birds and Mammals 

 of the Cook's Inlet Region of Alaska. 



By J. D. FiGGiNs.* 



(Revised September 1, 1904.) 



Ax expedition was organized in 1901 by the American 

 Museum of Natural History for the purpose of collecting the 

 mammals and birds of an interesting portion of Alaska and it 

 was m}^ good fortune to be one of the party. Landing at 

 Homer, on the south side of Cook's Inlet, the latter part of 

 June (June 21), my first impressions were of surprise — at 

 the mildness of the climate, the heavy growth of timber on 

 the mountain sides, the tropical appearance of the lowlands 

 and the countless thousands of water fowl on the adjoining 

 bay. Indeed, I found that from the mildness of its climate 

 and the almost subtropical growth of its vegetation, the 

 Cook's Inlet region was called by the early Russian settlers 

 the " summer land " of Alaska. 



Chugachik Bay, upon which Homer is situated, is about 

 twenty-five miles in length, bordered on the north side with 

 miles of shallows, which at low tide become mud-fiats, and 

 on the south side with numerous islands, which afford the 

 birds safe retreats during the breeding season and an abun- 

 dance of food throughout the year. These islands have very 

 abrupt cliffs at the water's edge — -in some instances more 

 than one hundred feet in height — and are literally covered 



* [Many of Mr. Figgins' notes have been already published (see J. A. 

 Allen, "List of Mammals collected in Alaska by the Andrew J. Stone 

 Expedition of 1901," and F. M. Chapman "List of Birds, etc.," Bull. 

 Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., XVI, 1902, pp. 215-230, 231-247) and only such 

 additional matter as seems worthy of record is here included. — Ed,] 



