224 ALASKA. 



fish, were eagerly picked up and carried off by the Eskimo in 

 great glee, as if regarded as a prize. 



Bird-life was not so extensive as at Saint Matthew's, the 

 murres [Lonivia arra) predominating on the sea-front, while in 

 the lagoons were several large flocks of the emperor- goose (C. 

 canagica.) Tringa crassirostis, so common on the Seal Islands 

 and on Saint Matthew's, was not seen here. A stone-chat {S. 

 cenanthe) was dhserved, as also Budytes flava. The small Asiatic 

 tern, in large numbers, hovered over the lagoons. The turn- 

 stones here {8. interpres) have a much blacker, duller tone than 

 the variety on the Seal Islands. 



Our observations here would make Saint Lawrence of the 

 same formation as the mainland on either side of the straits, 

 and just as old, but the islands of Saint Matthew's and the 

 Prybilov group, as much more recent, and belonging to a differ- 

 ent epoch. Saint Lawrence is ice-bouud and snow-covered too 

 large a portion of the year ever to become a fit place for the 

 fur-seal to breed ; and it may be safely said that no land of 

 ours in the north is . adapted to the wants of that animal ex- 

 cept that of Saint Paul and Saint George. 



