176 NATUEAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS IN ALASKA. 



The Loxia Mfasoiata of Europe aud Siberia is very much like leucoptera, but differs iu having a 

 larger and more robust form throughout. The red of the male is dull scarlet, in contrast to the 

 rose-red and i>urplish-red of leucoptera. In its stout proportions it resembles curvirostra, while in 

 some of the color-markings, especially iu the female, it resembles leuooptera, so that it appears to 

 unite several of the characteristic marks of the two species and to merit an intermediate position 

 between the plain and the banded winged species. 



Leucosticte geiseonucha (Brandt). Aleutian Leucosticte. 



On the Aleutian Islands from one extreme to the other is found this large and beautiful finch, 

 extending its habitat thence north to include the Seal Island group and the small island of Saint 

 Matthews, still further to the north. East of the Aleutian chain it reaches Kadiak Island. Upon 

 all these islands, with the exception of Saint Matthews and the Fur Seal group, it is a permanent 

 resident. 



For a knowledge of its habits we are indebted mainly to the observations of Messrs. Dall and 

 Elliott. The latter saw a few on the island of Saint Matthews August 9, 1874, and this forms our 

 only record from that point. On the Seal Island group the same observer found it abundant, and 

 tells us nearly all we have concerning its breeding habits. We learn that on tliese strange islets 

 the "PahtoslMe," as it is termed by the Creole inhabitants of the island — 



Nests in a cMnk or crevice of the cliiFs, building a warm, snug home for its little ones, of dried grasses and moss, 

 Tery neatly put together, and then lined with a few superfluous feathers. The eggs vary iu number from three to six ; 

 there generally is four. They are pure white with a delicate rosy blush, when fresh, and measure 0.97 by 0.67 of an 

 inch. The young break the shell at the expiration of twenty or twenty-two days' incubation, the labor of which is 

 not shared by the male; he, however, brings food to his mate, singing as most birds do of his kind, highly elated by 

 the prospects of paternity. The chicks, at first, are sparsely covered with a sprinkling of dark-gray down, and in 

 two or three weeks gain their feathers, fitting them for flight, though they do not acquire the ash and black of the 

 head, while the chocolate-brown on the back is rich, aud the rosy tints of their feather-tips tnrn to crimson. -These 

 bright hues of adolescence do not appear until they are one year old; between the old birds, however, there is no 

 outward dissimilarity in size and coloration, the male and female being exactly alike. They feed upon various seeds 

 and insects, as well as the larviB which swarm on the killing-grounds. They are fearless and confiding, fluttering in 

 the most familiar manner around the village huts. Iu the summer of 1873 a pair built their nests and reared a brood 

 under the eaves of the old Greek church, that tottered on its rotten foundations, at St. George. 



This bird has no song, but utters a low, mellow chirp. It seems to pair permanently, and 

 never assembles in flocks. Dall adds that it has no song at any season, but a clear chirp-like 

 weet-a-weet-a-tceet-iceet. He reports it as on the wing a great part of the time, avoiding the ground, 

 but darting rapidly in a series of ascending and descending curves, now springing on the broad 

 top of some umbelliferous plant, now alighting on the ledge of a perpendicular blufi; jumping 

 from point to point, seemingly delighted at its own agility. The nest which he found on the 

 Aleutian Islands was in a small hollow on one of the ledges, provided with a few straws and bits 

 of moss. The eggs are deposited in May, and in August the young are fully-fledged. He considers 

 the birds as almost wholly gramnivorous, but found several beetles in the crop of one. At Una- 

 laska he found it especially numerous, and on May 24 took its nest from a crevice in a rocky bank 

 on the shore of Captain's Harbor. The structure was of grass, very neatly woven together, aud 

 lined with fine grass and a few feathers. It contained five eggs, newly laid, and was about 12 

 feet above the beach. The birds were found singly or in pairs frequenting the grassy banks and 

 rocky bluffs near the shore. It was not found at elevated points on the mountains. 



During my residence at Unalaska, in May and June, 1877, 1 saw but a single individual of 

 this species, the last of May, as it was fluttering from point to point along the face of a high cliff, 

 at such a distance that it escaped my shot and disappeared over the brow of the precipice. I spent 

 considerable time searching for them in every suitable location, from my arrival up to the date of 

 leaving— the 1st of June -but none were to be found; yet only a few seasons before they had been 

 found numerous by Mr. Dall, over exactly the same ground— an additional illustration of the fa- 

 miliar fact that a bird may be numerous at a place in one season and the next finds that locality 

 without a single example. On my return to the Aleutian Islands, the last of September, 1881, up 

 to our leaving, on October 4, of the same season, I again made search for this finch, but with the 

 same lack of success which attended my previous efforts. 



