a; 



198 XATUEAL HISTOEY COLLECTIOXS IX ALASKA. 



adjoining fence. Within a few days they are seen glancing all abont the place or gliding in wide 

 circles over the brown tnndra, which at this time is still marked here and there by heavy snow- 

 drifts. Their arrival may be followed by frosty nights, and even snow-squalls are by no means 

 rare, while raw, misty rains are common. Still the birds a](|)^r to endure the unpleasant 

 weather without harm, and shelter themselves in old nests or other places until the sun shines 

 once more. These old nesting sites are re-occupied after being repaired, and all manner of shel- 

 tering nooks are chosen as building sites for the new-comers. Usually a number of pairs raise 

 two broods in a season, if autumn does not come too early. When August arrives young and 

 old are seen sunning themselves in noisy parties upon the low roofs of the log houses, which 

 form a fevorite chattering-place. Day by day passes in teaching the young the use of their 

 uncertain wings, and sad work some of them make of it at first, affording amusement to the 

 dwellers of the houses. Before long, however, they fly as well as the old ones, and some flue 

 morning we wake to find a blank in place of the vivacious throng, that, like many another 

 •source of pleasure, is not fully appreciated until lost. The sky seems to assume a sadder and 

 more dreary aspect, the brown earth looks duller, and the presence of a gloomy autumn is made 

 more apparent by the cheerless silence. Many days shall not pass before the snowcapped bill- 

 tops, like the tents of outposts along the coast, announce the rapid approach of a long, weari- 

 some winter. Occasionally a pair have their unfledged young still in the nest, or just com- 

 mencing to take flight, at the time the other birds leave for the south, and I have known a pair 

 or two to remain a week or so behind the main migration iu order to prepare their young for the 

 journey before them. But this is uncommon, the nesting being usually ended and all the young 

 on the wing at about the same time. Their first eggs are laid on the last days of May or first of 

 June. In the British fur countries Richardson found these birds nesting to latitude 69° 30' north, 

 and Hepburn traced them on the west coast of America, from British Columbia north to Sitka. 

 Eichardson notes their arrival at Fort Chippewayan about May 15, and they were also com. 

 raon at Fort Good Hope in latitude 69° 30', the most northerly post of the Hudson Bay Fur 

 Company. After rearing a single brood he tells us they leave these high latitudes early in 

 August. A comparison of specimens of this bird from various Alaskan localities with others 

 from Eastern North America does not show the slightest appreciable difference. 



Tachycineta bicolor (VieilL). Tree Swallow (Esk. Kau-tarjh Ujdghuk). 



Although having even a wider northern range than the Barn Swallow this bird does not 

 accept the shelter afforded by man, but retains its ancient habit of occupying holes in banks or 

 trees, and, as a consequence, its distribution along the Arctic coast and shores of Bering Sea is 

 limited to those portions where the proper positions for its nesting sites are afforded. At the 

 Tukon delta, the 1st of June, 1879, and at Saint Michaels, the 24th and 2oth of May, 1880, they 

 were common, and although they nest at the former place, where the river banks and dead tree- 

 trunks attbrd them proper sites, yet in the latter place they are unknown, except as visitants in 

 fall or during the spring migration, when, as on the dates mentioned, they were found quarter- 

 ing over a series of small lakes and grassy flats, hunting insects and enjoying the genial sunshine, 

 which lasts for a short time at this season. It is also found as a straggler, generally the youno- 

 birds of the year, for a few days during the middle of August, when it departs, thus leaving for 

 the south or its interior haunts considerably earlier than the Barn Swallow. Richardson found 

 them nesting iu hollow trees on the Mackenzie Eiver, in latitude 65° north, and during Parry's 

 first voyage a species of swallow was seen in about latitude 73° north, which was probably this 

 bird. In the spring, during their short visits to Saint Michaels, they occur at the same season as 

 the Black Brant : and while lyiag prone on my back upon a grassy knoll, on the open tundra, 

 watching for geese, I have frequently amused myself by observing the silent flitting to and fro of 

 these pretty creatures as they skim the surfaces of lakelets and bogs, gliding here and there as if 

 floating on the faint puffs of air which appeared to hold them poised, and then to waft them about 

 in gracefuf curves. 



The icy sea and partly snow-covered country appear to offer a very inhospitable welcome in 

 spring, yet this bird and the Barn Swallow do not seem to suffer the least inconvenience from 

 these untoward surroundings. 



This species is unknown on the islands of Bering Sea. 



