the willow warbler, and the red-throated pipit, occur as wanderers 

 from Siberia at the end of July or in August, but return to Asia for the 

 southward migration. 



The Pribilof, or Fur-Seal, Islands are the most notable part of 

 Alaska for the number of Old World strays which have been taken 

 there. Among these are the tufted duck, the European pochard, the 

 long-toed stint, the rufif, Tegmalm's owl, the Kamchatkan cuckoo, 

 and the Japanese hawfinch. The information on this subject already 

 obtained on these islands, despite so small an amount of work done, 

 indicates that numerous other Old World birds are likely to be 

 added to our fauna there. Wandering species appear to drop in at 

 these islands much as they do on the island of Helgoland in the 

 German Sea, which has become famed in bird-annals for the extraor- 

 dinary number of its strange visitants. 



Braving an Arctic Winter 



In spite of its northern situation and the arctic conditions that 

 prevail in winter over the greater part of the Territory, Alaska 

 possesses a long list of birds that remain- within its borders the year 

 round, some even in the extreme north — hardy spirits that hold their 

 own through all the severities of a boreal winter. 



Conspicuous among these is the Alaskan jay, the northern repre- 

 sentative of the well known Canada jay, from which it differs only 

 a little in coloration. Like the Canada jay, it is called "camp-robber" 

 and "whisky- jack," and is a common and familiar visitor to camps 

 and villages, especially in winter, when these' jays are amusingly, 

 and often exasperatingly, audacious in their raids on any unguarded 

 food. If encouraged they become extremely tame, and will enter 

 cabins to enjoy the hospitality of the occupant, or will even fly to 

 meet a friend when he goes abroad, alighting on his head or shoulder, 

 and otherwise making themselves interesting companions to the 

 lonely dweller in an isolated winter camp. A typical instance of the 

 impish humor of these birds was given by an encounter 1 had with 

 one early in June on the coast of Bering Sea. I was crossing from 

 the mouth of the Yukon to St. Michael in a large kyak, with two 

 Eskimo companions. About midway we camped and slept for a few 

 hours on the low point of Cape Romanoff. When the sun arose, very 

 early in the morning, we made a fire of driftwood and had our break- 

 fast close t®'a scraggy little patch of leafless alders near the beach, 

 which were'the only shrubs in sight and appeared too small and scat- 

 tered to conceal any bird. Finally we launched our kyak and started 



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