CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NATURAL HISTORY OF ALASKA. 179 



watching the vessel, which- was to take nie to Unalashka Island, enter the harbor. I saw a bird 

 just beneath the window and on the ground, not more than seven feet from my eyes. At the first 

 glance I supposed the bird to be Plectroplianax nivalis. A moment sufficed to convince me that it 

 was not. I ran to get my gun; and, as I opened the door, of the entry- way, to get out, the door 

 opened directly on the bird, which, with a chirp precisely like that of Bu.dytesfla.TUS leueostriatus, 

 flew off to a distance of 75 yards and alighted. I approached as nearly as I dared and fired at it, 

 but failed to obtain it, as the gun was loaded with No. 3 shot. It flew off beyond the hills and was 

 not seen again. The bustle and preparation for departure prevented me from following the bird. 



I had ample time to identify the bird as a Motacilla, and one new to my list. The black on the 

 head and neck, together with the grayish on the other portions of the body, and the manuer of 

 gait, were sufficient to cause it to be recognized. 



Mr. W. H. Dall collected a specimen of this species at Plover Bay, Siberia, and one was col- 

 lected by Dr. T. H. Bean, of the U. S. Fish Commission, in the same locality in 1880. 



Seebohm (Ibis, 1878, p. 346) says: U I have a skin of Motacilla amurensis Seeb., collected by 

 Wossuessensky on the 23d of April, 1845, upon Oorogan Island, possibly either one of the Kurile 

 or one of the Aleutian Islands." 1 have endeavored to find the geographical position of Oorogan 

 Island and have failed. It may possibly be one so small in size as to be known only to those who 

 visit that locality. 



An intimate acquaintance with the names of all the Aleutian Islands compels me to assert 

 that it is tiot to be found among the Aleutian Islands, unless it be some island which, from the 

 spelling, " Oorogan," is not now recognizable, nor is there any island ol the chain which approaches 

 it in sound, as the Aleutian languages have no "R" in their vocabulary. It is necessary, however, 

 to state that Wossuessensky did, about that time, collect specimens of natural history along the 

 coasts of the Okhotsk Sea for the Imperial Academy. And Grewink, in Beschaff'enheit der Nord- 

 West-Kiiste Americas, St. Petersburg, 1850, says: 



Ini August 1839 gebt J. G. Wosnessensky at), besucht 1840 unci 1841 Neualbion, Ober- und Untercalifornien, 1842 

 uiid 1843 die Alentiscben Inseln, mebre Inselgruppen im Beringsmeere u. den Kotzebuesnnd, 1844 die Kurilscben Inseln • 

 1845 und 1846 bereist er die Oibotsker Kiiste, 184? und 1848 die gauze Halbinsel Kaintscbatkauud kebrt von bier liber 

 Sitcba Juli 1849 mit dem Scbitfe Atcba uacb St. Petersburg zuriick. 



A second reference to the voyages made by Vosnessensky is to be found in Nouvelles Annales 

 des Voyages, Paris, A. Bertrand, 1846, tome III de la Collection V e , serie VI, tome II, p. 250. 



Dans la s6ance de l'Acad6uiie Imperiale de Saint-Pc'tersbourg (classe pbysico-matbe'matiquo), da 19 septeuibre 

 dernier (l er octobre, n. et.), uue lettre de M. Etbolin a fait coumiltre les deruieres courses du preparatenr VoznesHensky_ 

 Daus V6l6 de 1845, apres avoir visits les lies ^tionriles, le voyageur a inouille6 dans le port de Petropaulovsk, au 

 Kamtchaka ; puis de la il s'est rendu aux lies de Bebring, a Atta, Atkba, Saint- Paul et Saint-Georges, et il est revenu 

 en autonme a Novo-Arkbanghelsk. LaM. Etbolin lni a fourui l'occasiou de visiter les d6troits des Kolocbes. Au 

 moment du depart de la poste, Voznessensky se disposait pour nil voyage a Okbotsk et dans le golfe d'Aian, d'oii il 

 devait reveuir a Petropaulovsk. Quaraute-deux caises, reufermant la r^colte des dernieres courses du zele nat uraliste, 

 e"taient parties pour Saiut-P6tersbourg par la voie de Londres. 



696. Budytes flavus leucostriatus (Horn.). Siberian Yellow Wagtail. 



This bird arrives about the 12th of June; a few days earlier or later, depending on the opening 

 of the spring. Immediately on its arrival, in but few numbers, they are very shy, alighting on the 

 bare areas of ground to fly away at only au instant of rest. Few females arrive with the earliest 

 visitants. But few days elapse before mating begins. A pair is no sooner mated than the labor 

 of making their nest commences. A tussock of grass, on which the dead stems and blades have 

 fallen over and form a cover, is the place selected for the nest. The uest is constructed of tine 

 grasses with few grass roots, built into a compact form, having the edges or walls of the nest well 

 carried up, so that the sitting bird is nearly obscured in her nest. 



Eggs are sometimes laid before the nest is completed. The process of construction goes on 

 until the open space, under the overhanging grass, is filled with the bulk of the nest. The over, 

 hanging grass-blades are then drawn over the uest, leaving only a small rounded hole between 

 them as an entrance to the nest. 



The complement of eggs varies from five to seven, the latter number being the usual number 

 in the nest. 



