33 
Ceryle alcyon (Linnaeus). Belted Kingfisher 
Only one bird seen, at Swanson harbour, March 11. 
Alauda arvensis blackistoni (Stejneger). Kamchatkan Skylark. 
Clark, page 62. 
Alauda blackistoni. Stejneger, p. 234. 
Alauda arvensis pekinensis Swinhoe. Hartert, p. 248. 
Observed first at Hitokappu, Yetorup island, May 7, where one was 
taken. Several were seen. The birds were in full song. As it was here 
that the first touch of spring was encountered, the opening paragraph of 
the day’s notes may be apropos. “Came into bay at Hitokappu in early 
sunrise. A calm sea and a clear sky. A new world before us. This island 
beautiful under the faint green of shrubbery and trees; the fragrant smell 
of conifers on the air at half a mile greeted the nostrils. The first habitable 
looking place since leaving Alaska. A village of grey shacks along the 
bay front and gaudily trapped women and children walking the one street. 
Mountains in the distance were bare to quite high elevations and spring 
was in evidence on every hand.” 
This was the setting for my first meeting with Shelley’s “blithe spirit” 
and unless the English bird can outdo his cousin of Japan and the Kurils 
and Kamchatka then it may be no harm to state the humble conviction 
that Shelley was a vastly better singer than his bird. 
On the open, flower-burdened hills back of Petropavlovsk, skylarks 
were still in song on July 22. They were evidently nesting, though no 
nests were discovered. 
6 Yetorup island, Kuril island. May 7 
6 Petropavlovsk, Kamchatka. July 22 
6 “ « “ 29 
The writer sees no appreciable difference between the above Kamchatkan and the Kuril 
Island specimens. 
Pica pica kamtschatica Stejneger. Kamchatka Magpie. Clark, p. 62. 
Pica kamtschatica. Stejneger, p. 241. 
Pica pica bactriana Bonaparte. Hartert, p. 21. 
On July 29, at Petropavlovsk, a magpie was seen distantly but with 
certainty. 
Pica pica hudsonica (Sabine). Magpie 
On March 12 half a dozen magpies were noted near the wharf at 
Yakutat bay, Alaska, and one was shot. On March 18 the bird was really 
numerous at Elizabeth island. There was good timber here, and as the island 
was utilized as a fox farm, the birds found it a good place to congregate. 
Magpies also were quite numerous at Uyak bay, Kodiak island, in spite of 
the timberless and inhospitable nature of the place, and a single bird at 
Dolgoi bay was the last of this species seen during the trip. 
9 Yakutat bay, Alaska. March 12 
Cyanocitta stelleri stelleri (Gmelin). Steller’s Jay 
Observed March 3 at Bellabella, B.C., on March 9 at Taku cannery, 
Alaska, and on August 17 at Prince Rupert. 
