^62 NATUEAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS IK ALASKA. 



strayed eveu to Greenlaud, where, at Nenortalik, it was obtained August 29, 1840. It is very com- 

 mon in Wasbiugton Territory, and tbe types of the species were obtained from the Sas- 

 katchewan in latitude 54°, north of which, until tbe present, there appears to be no record but 

 that from Greenland. The natives informed me that it is not uncommon in the vicinity of Anvik, 

 where my specimens were secured, and they described its usual habit of perching on the top 

 of tall trees, whence it makes forays for insects, so there is little chance that they were mis- 

 taken. It probably reaches as far north in the Rocky Mountain region as the preceding species, and 

 along the coast north of Washington Territory probably to. the Sitkan region. Like a number 

 of other birds its northern range will be considerably extended when a careful summer survey 

 has been made through the wooded portions of Northern Alaska, the animal life of which, at 

 ]3resent, is but little known. 



Bmpidonax difficilis Baird. Baird's Flycatcher. 



A single specimen taken by Dr. Bean on June 5, 1880, at Sitka, is the only record of its capt- 

 ure in Alaska, but as others were seen at the same place it is probably a regular summer resident 

 in that district. 



185. Bmpidonax pusilltjs (Swains.). Little Flycatcher. 



A single male of this widely- spread little bird was brought me from Nulato in the spring of 

 1878, and a second specimen was secnred at Saint Michaels the same season. The natives knew 

 the bird and told me it was not common. Hartlaub records a single specimen seen in Lower 

 Dejah Valley May 24. The above specimens comprise all the known Alaskan examples. It may be 

 considered as an irregular, though probably not abundant, summer resident. Kennicott and 

 others found it nesting in alder-bushes near Fort Resolution in latitude 62° north, in the Hudson's 

 Bay country, and it probably extends its range far beyond this on the Yukon and Mackenzie 

 Rivers. 



Otocoeis alpestkis leucol^ma. (Ooues). Pallid Horned Lark. 



Throughout Alaska this species appears to be very rare. Two specimens were taken in the 

 vicinity of Saint Michaels during my residence there, and three were secured on the Upper Yukon 

 by Mr. McQuesten on April 3 and 30, 1879. All of these birds are spring males and typical of this 

 variety. It is much more common on the headwaters of the Yukon during spring and summer than 

 along the shores of Bering Sea, where it can only be counted a very rare straggler. It has not 

 been recorded from any of the Bering Sea islands nor from the adjoining Asiatic coast. Not a 

 single individual was seen by us during the summer of 1881 anywhere along the Alaskan coast 

 north to Point Barrow. In addition to the specimens obtained by me is a single bird secured on 

 the Yukon by Dall. All of these birds are very pale, but are far less bleached than the peculiar 

 variety in the National Museum collection from Astrakhan, which is labeled " variety bei." This 

 bird has almost uniformly faded to a pale grayish ashy above and white below,, and probably 

 represents a well-marked local race. The typical alpestris apparently does not occur in Alaska, 

 and the specimens taken at Portage Bay and at Dejah Pass, in the southeastern part of the Territory, 

 and recorded by Hartlaub, are doubtless referable here. In Oregon and Washington Territory, 

 and perhaps throughout British Columbia, is found a small, very brightly-colored form, with the 

 rufous of the back and the yellow, whicb in some specimens extends over the throat and entire under 

 parts, very intense. Whether this form extends its range to the southern border of the Territory 

 cannot be ascertained until that region has been visited and more thoroughly examined than it has at 

 present. Richardson found the Shore Lark on the coast of the Arctic at the mouth of the Mac- 

 kenzie River, and a single wandering specimen has been taken in Greenland. * 



* Alaucla arvensis, quoted in tlie History of North American Birds [vol. II, p. 136], as occurring on the Aleutian 

 Lslands, apparently rests its claim upon the fact of Steller having found au allied species on the Kurile and Com- 

 mander Islands, near the Kamchatkan coast, which, of course, does not warrant its heing included here. 



