the ravens live in large numbers about the village, perching on the 

 roofs of the houses, and hopping about among domestic fowls as famil- 

 iarly as the chickens themselves. These ravens spend much of their 

 time on the wing, circling high over the town and bay, and perform- 

 ing a series of extraordinary evolutions. They sometimes drop a 

 long distance in a series of heels-over-head revolutions like an acro- 

 bat, ending in a long glide on outspread wings or in some other ec- 

 centric performance, always accompanied by explosive cork-drawing 

 sounds and a variety of other cries and croakings. They appear to 

 enjoy especially making these playful flights during hard gales, when 

 the entire raven-colony will take part. They soar, turn, and twist, on 

 facile wing, and fill the air with a medley of strange cries, as if taking 

 impish joy in the fierce wind roaring across the rugged mountain- 

 sides and beating the surface of the bay into a froth of flying spray. 

 Although seeming so jocular in mood, these black-garbed birds are 

 remorseless pirates, robbing other birds of their eggs and young 

 whenever opportunity offers. 



Bird-Life of the Sea Islands 

 ;My first approach to Alaskan shores was about the middle of 

 May, when we neared Akutan Pass on our way to Unalaska Harbor. 



PALLASS MURRES ON BOGOSLOF ISLAND IN BERING SEA 

 From a Photograph by A. C. Bent 



The morning was clear and absolutely calm, the only breaks in the 

 glassy surface of the swelling sea those made by the wake of the 

 steamer, and the ripples circling from the breasts of thousands of 

 water-fowl — murres, auklets, gulls, and fulmars — and a few fur-seals. 

 The swarming abundance of bird-life about the rocky shores of 

 the Aleutian chain, and of the islands of Bering Sea, adds wonderfully 

 to the interest of these frowning coasts. The cliff-walled shores of the 

 Fur-Seal group, and of the islets in Bering Strait, which stand like 



