22 NATUEAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS IN ALASKA. 



of life. One speedily comes to disregard the discomforts of such a life, and the changing episodes 

 attending each day, together with the strange and often beautiful scenes, are all that linger in his 

 memory. The mysterious beauty thrown over laud and sea by the twilight that covers the earth 

 during the short time the sun remains below the horizon in midsummer cannot be described, and 

 at such times the distant note of some restless gull or loon breaks the stillness with an uncanny 

 effect. When camped on the coast in summer I frequently weut out during these twilight nights, 

 gun in hand, and wandered about in the dce^) silence, finding the water-fowl at rest in the hidden 

 pools or on their nests. 



The winters are long and severe at Saint Michaels, as they are elsewhere in this region. 

 Spring opens late, and most of the cranes, snipe, geese, and ducks arrive while the ground is still 

 mostly covered with snow and the muddy pools are covered with ice. At this time the birds feed 

 upon the heath-berries, which the frost has preserved since the previous fall. 



In 1880 we had cold, wintry weather at Saint Michaels, with scarcely a sign of spring, up to May 

 18, and only a few stray water-fowl had-^jeen seen; on the 18th and 19th, however, the temperature 

 arose to 39° and 43°, and the loud cries of geese and the rolling notes of Sandhill Cranes were 

 heard all about as though the birds had sprung from the ground. This was an unusually late 

 season, since, in 1878, the flight of water-fowl was well under way by May 12, and was nearly over 

 by the 29th. Indeed, by the latter date, many birds had already deposited eggs. The dates for the 

 opening of spring on the coast do not correspond with those of the interior, where, along the Upper 

 Yukon, in 1877, the snow had nearly disappeared by April 20, and ducks and gulls had already 

 arrived. Although the Alaskan coast climate of Bering Sea is so much colder in spring than the 

 climate of the interior, it is much milder than the Siberian coast climate of Bering Sea at that 

 time. 



On June 5, 1881, the vegetation about Saint Michaels was well advanced, scarcely a patch 

 of snow was visible, the sea was free of ice, and the water along shore registered 55°. The birds 

 had already nested and many had young. 



Two days later, at Plover Bay, on the Siberian shore, and only a few miles further north than 

 Saint Michaels, we found the season nearly a month later. The hills about Plover Bay were still 

 nearly covered with snow banks, the water of the sea stood at 38°, and the inner bays along shore 

 were still covered with ice. Only the hardiest plants had appeared and the birds were just nesting. 



A similar difference in climate on the two shores of Bering Sea holds good throughout the 

 summer, and is due, mainly, to the following causes: 



Upon the Alaskan coast the sea is very shallow, and enormous quantities of warm, fresh water 

 are discharged into the sea by the Yukon and Kuskoquim Eivers. TLe warm currents thus pro- 

 duced rot and carry offshore the winter ice, and consequently have a very marked effect on the 

 coast climate. On the other hand, upou the Siberian coast, a deep, cold sea is in direct communi- 

 cation with the Arctic basin, along which the heavy Arctic ice gathers each winter. In addi- 

 tion there are no s^^reams of any size flowing info the sea. These conditions result in a much 

 more limited flora and a smaller number of birds on the Siberian coast of Bering Sea than is 

 found on the opposite American shore. The cold Siberian coast compares favorably, however, in 

 this respect with other Arctic lands. After coasting along all the northern shores of Europe and 

 Siberia, Nordenskjold writes that he found the birds fewer iu number but with a greater variety of 

 species on the Chukchi peninsula than upon Nova Zembla, Spitzbergen, or Greenland. 



We must not lose sight of the fact, iu this connection, that these last-named lauds are Arctic 

 islands, frequented by vast numbers of characteristic Arctic water-fowl, whereas the Chukchi 

 peninsula is a barren portion of a continental mass with only parts of its shores sufliciently rugged 

 to attract the cliff-loving sea-fowl. 

 • From his winter quarters at Tapkan, on the North Siberian coast, about 100 miles north- 

 west of Bering Straits, Nordenskjold noted Phyllopseustes borealis, Plectrophenax nivalis, Eury- 

 norhynchus pygmceus, Tringa couesi (called T. maratima), Grymophilus fulicarius, Chen hyperborea, 

 Philacte canagica, Glangula hyemalis, Somateria speotabilis, Somateria v-nigra, Eniconetta stelleri, 

 Larus glaucus, Oavia alba, Bissa tridactyla pollicaris, and Bhodostethia rosea, besides several species 

 not named. The Snowy Owl, Eaven, and a Ptarmigan were the only birds found wintering there, 

 although the natives told him that the Murre and Black GuiUemot mnter in the open water off- 

 shore. 



