A Summer’s Work 
A Natural History Expedition to Southeastern Alaska 
By FRANK STEPHENS 
( Concluded .) 
W HILE exploring was in progress at 
the lakes the remainder of the party 
were busily collecting at the main 
camp at Mole Harbor. Many of the water 
birds had moved on toward their breeding 
grounds in the far north. Land birds be¬ 
came a little more common and were breed¬ 
ing. Rufous hummingbirds were frequently 
seen and one nest was found. Bald eagles were 
abundant. One day fully two dozen were in 
sight at once, and another day I saw five in the 
immature (one year old) plumage together. 
These eagles fished for themselves, as there were 
very few ospreys to rob. Ravens and fish crows 
were plentiful, feeding principally on the shell¬ 
fish exposed at low tide. We often saw the 
white gleam of the clams or sea urchins in their 
bills as they flew up to trees on the beach where 
they wedged them in some fork and pecked them 
until they obtained the contents. 
At last, on June io, Captain F. came with the 
launch. He had come alone all the way from 
Seattle and had been three weeks on the way. 
I had not been aboard the launch before and 
was disappointed in her appearance. She was 
dirty and the only accommodation for passengers 
was a little 8 by io cabin. She had room in her 
hold for several tons of freight, but some of 
our camp outfit was bulky and by the time we 
had it all aboard the deck was piled full. 
We were ready to go, and loaded by the next 
morning. Captain F. grumbled considerably 
about the big load. He had a thousand gallons 
of gasolene aboard for use through the season 
and it did not add to our comfort. Miss Alex¬ 
ander, D. and Hasselborg went across to the 
lakes and down the river to trace it to its outlet 
on the west coast where the launch found them 
a few days later. The rest of the party went in 
the launch around the south end of the island 
and across to Red Bluff Bay in Baranoff Island, 
where we made camp again. 
This was the wildest locality we saw all sum¬ 
mer. Red Bluff Bay is a canon extending deep 
into the mountains. It is about half a mile 
wide and is four miles to the head. The moun¬ 
tains on each side are very steep and often 
nearly perpendicular. Numerous waterfalls 
poured over the cliffs. The snow was deep on 
the mountains and small hanging glaciers were 
hidden among the peaks. The anchorage was 
in twelve fathoms of water at the head of the 
bay near the only place level enough to camp 
on. At the head of the bay the canon extended 
on until hidden by a bend. Deer were plentiful 
and tame. The antlers of the bucks were about 
half grown. 
While the launch was away picking up those 
who crossed Admiralty Island, L. and I suc¬ 
ceeded in climbing to the summit of one of the 
lower peaks south of the bay. The summit was 
2,300 feet in altitude and from it we could see 
a number of small lakes, mostly of glacial origin, 
and two small glaciers. The snow appeared very 
deep on all the mountains in sight. Apparently 
Baranoff Island gets a heavier snowfall than the 
islands inside it. The scenery there was grand. 
It was the finest combination of sheltered bay, 
rugged mountains, waterfalls, forest and snow 
I ever saw. It was not a good collecting station, 
as the mountains were too rugged and the beach 
was not practicable for walking. The few water 
birds left appeared to be all non-breeders. 
On June 20 we started northward through 
Chatham Strait, then west into Icy Strait, and 
camped for a week on Port Frederic, Chichagoff 
Island, opposite the Indian mission village of 
Hoonah. We found this a better station than 
the last, getting some pine finches, three-toed 
woodpeckers, ptarmigan, etc., and Hasselborg 
shot two bears. A small school of whales re¬ 
mained in the bay while we were there. 
Leaving Port Frederic, we continued north¬ 
west in Icy Strait to Glacier Bay. In Icy Strait 
we passed among some ice, in places having to 
wind about considerably to keep clear of the 
small icebergs. This ice all came from Glacier 
Bay and a few miles inside the bay the bergs 
became so abundant that we could get no further 
and therefore made our way through Bartlett 
Cove to a comparatively ice free anchorage be¬ 
hind the Beardslee Islands on the eastern shore. 
In some respects this was the best collecting 
station that we worked in. It was on the main¬ 
land and therefore added several species of 
mammals that do not occur on the islands. We 
found a pleasant camp ground in the edge of 
a young forest. This was about the most north¬ 
ern point that we reached. It was also at the 
season of long days. We could see to prepare 
specimens until 10 o’clock and it was broad day¬ 
light before three in the morning. From one 
of the islands I had a fair view of Muir Glacier, 
twenty miles distant. It seemed to begin near 
the summit of the range, curving out from be¬ 
hind one of the northern peaks and sweeping 
down toward me to the northern arm of the 
bay. We were disappointed in not being able 
to visit any of these glaciers because of the un¬ 
usual amount of ice in the bay. 
L., D., Hasselborg and I attempted to visit 
Marble Island to see a colony of sea birds that 
was said to be located there. When we passed 
from the shelter of the northernmost of the 
Beardslee Islands group we came into thick ice. 
A light rain had been falling and a thick fog 
lay over the ice, hiding Marble Island from view 
and the ice became constantly more abundant, 
and in spite of our care we struck some of the 
blocks that were nearly the color of the water. 
But one-eighth of a berg rises above the water 
and some of the larger bergs must have ex- 
YOUNG DUCK HAWKS. 
