420 THE FUR SEALS OF THE PKIBILOF ISLANDS. 



edged with white with a long white shaft streak; longer under tail coverts irregulary 

 barred with blackish. Bill horny black; base of upper yellowish, of lower greenish; 

 bluish in center; base, yellowish; angle of mouth, orange-yellow; eye ring, bright 

 lemon-yellow; inside of mouth, bright orange-red, lighter toward tip of bill; feet, deep 

 yellowish. Length, 14 inches; extent, 18.25; wing, 8.70; tail, G.65; culmen, 0.81; 

 tarsus, 0.83. Outer primary, 2.30 less than the third, the longest. Outer retrix, 1.80 

 less than the longest. Iris, dull yellow. No. 118804, ad. 3 , U.S.N.M., July 4, 1890, St. 

 Paul Island, Bering Sea, W. Palmer. 



While becalmed in a fog on June 13, 1890, between Walrus and St. Paul islands, 

 a bird with a long tail and broad wings, short head and neck, circled over us for a 

 short time and then flew northward. On June 30, at Northeast Point, near Cross 

 Hill, I saw what I then thought was a hawk, which was perched on the sand or drift- 

 wood, and which now and then Hew up and captured flies. The next morning I saw 

 it again, and with a glass determined it to be a cuckoo with bars on the breast, and 

 thus an Asiatic species. As the use of my gun at this point was taboed, in fact it 

 was locked up because a report might possibly aflect the next morning's kill of seals, 

 I was unable to secure it, and consequently returned to the village leaving my prize 

 behind. On July 4, I tramped the weary stretch of 13 miles to the Point, this time 

 with my little .22 cane gun, and after a considerable chase among the grass-grown 

 sand dunes secured the bird by a lucky shot. It had been seen for fully two weeks 

 by the natives stationed there, and was probably the same bird that I saw on June 

 13, and is the only one of its kind ktiown from North America. Stomach contents: 

 Literally packed with large bottle flies. "This cuckoo contained more than 100 crane 

 flies. Many of these insects were full of dark-brown eggs." — [8. J). J.) 



Order PASSERES. Perching Birds. 



Of this vast order of birds it would appear that but nine species are known from 

 the islands. These belong to five families. Of these, four are common summer resi- 

 dents; the others are only casual or accidental. The four residents thrive exceedingly 

 well in summer, but their powers of endurance (in the cases of three, the other being 

 migratory usually) are sorely tested in the long, dark, and stormy times of winter. 

 Indeed, if it were not for the shelter afforded by the exceedingly rugged rocky crevices 

 in the clitts and on the surface of much of the islands, and their adaptability as lurk- 

 ing places for abundant insect life, it is doubtful if even these species could hold their 

 own on these exposed and storm-swept shores. In fact, their ranks are often greatly 

 thinned in severe winters. Other casual species may be expected and will undoubt- 

 edly be found iu time. 



Family TURDIDAE. Thrushes, Stonechats, etc. 



61. Merula migratoria (Linn.). American Robin. "Rap-o-loof." 



Tardus migratorins, CoUES, in Elliott's Rpt. Aff. Alaska, 1873; Reprint, 1875, 172; Key, 1890, 



244.— SiiAHPE, Cat. B. Br. Mus. V, 1885, 320.— Elliott, Mon. Seal Ids. 1882, 127. 

 Merula mi<jratoria, A. O. U. Ch. List, 1895, 320.— Ridgway, Man. 1896, 577. 



The history of this bird on the islands is as follows: "I was most agreeably 

 surprised, one cool morning early in October [1872|, while walking upon the village 

 hill, St. Paul Island, to see a robin, a red-breasted robin, silent and gloomy, hopping 

 and fluttering before me. It had evidently been brought to the island by the gale 

 which blew two days previously, and was even now casting about for a good chance 

 to leave. In order that I might observe the length of time this old friend of mine 



