SITKA RAVENS 



51 



GREEK CHURCH, SITKA. 



were very wild. Our mam- 

 mal collectors put out 100 

 small traps and caught only 

 two mice. I was fortunate 

 enough to see and hear the 

 water ouzel along Indian 

 River, a bird like a big 

 water-colored pebble with 

 a liquid bubbling song, 

 caught from the currents 

 about it. Here also I saw 

 the golden-crowned kinglet, 

 the varied thrush, the russet- 

 backed thrush and the rufous 

 chickadee. Ravens were 

 very common everywhere 

 in the town and about it, 

 and were talking and croak- 

 ing all the time. Often a solitary bird seemed to be 

 soliloquizing and repeating over to himself every note he 

 knew. One day a hunting party, with Indian guides and 

 dogs, visited one of the islands in quest of deer; the only 



deer that fell to 

 their rifles was 

 killed by Mr. 

 Harriman's el- 

 dest daughter, 

 Mary. 



It was a sur- 

 prise to see the 

 vast spruce 

 forests about 

 Sitka almost 

 untouched by 



RUSSIAN CEMETERY AT SITKA. the aX, CXCCpt 



