|
1721413 1 ,
—EE
(eo; ——_]
—————__]
—=
—
——
SSS
——
o——
;——————___]
—
0
Iai
3 1761
- ARGTIG CRUISE OF THE REVENUE STEAMER CORWIN
18381 |
NOTES
OBSERVATIONS
™
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2011 with funding from
University of Toronto
http://www.archive.org/details/cruiseofrevenuesOOmuir
ie
ees
Ringe
we Ada fA
be a) vires HI
p Chee a fey
f thi
c } i
a ;
1 Ue ‘ we Py {
us / ii ;
.: i
\ t ‘ ‘
7 i Aaa ;
i
A OD 0 ne ak a ae
cere da
. ha he eee ny
‘
(om
a
‘
MER CORWLN:
W. ARCTIC OUEAN
n
ig <-
eS ee
ne
=
CRUISE
REVENUE-STEAMER CORWIN
ALASKA AND THE N. W. ARCTIC OCEAN
a 2 co Roo el ae
¢
oe g i ie ;
NOTES AND MEMORANDA: MEDICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL;
4 BOTANICAL; ORNITHOLOGICAL.
WASHING TON:
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.
1883.
=
Document No. 429.
TREASURY DEPARTMENT,
Secretary—R. M.
LETTER
FROM
THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY,
o
IN RESPONSE TO
A resolution of the House of Representatives transmitting the observations and notes made during the
cruise of the revenue-cutter Corwin in 1881.
MARcH 3, 1883.—Referred to the Committee on Commerce and ordered to be printed.
TREASURY DEPARTMENT, March 3, 1883.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of resolution of the House, dated March 3,
1883, requesting that the Secretary of the Treasury furnish, as soon as convenient, to the Speaker
of the House copies of documents in the possession of the Treasury Department containing obser-
vations on glaciation, birds, natural history, and the medical notes made upon cruises of revenue-
cutters in the year 1881.
In reply, I transmit herewith the observations on glaciation in the Arctic Ocean and the Alaska
region, made by Mr. John Muir; notes upon the birds and natural history of Bering Sea and the
northwestern region, by Mr. H. W. Nelson; and medical notes and anthropological notes relating
to the natives of Alaska and the northwestern Arctic region, made by Dr. Irving C. Rosse.
All these notes were made upon the cruise of the revenue-cutter Corwin in 1881.
Very respectfully,
k H. F. FRENCH,
Acting Secretary.
Hon. J. W. KEIFER,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
(3)
MEDICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTES ON ALASKA.
BY
IRV UNG C. ROSSE,M. D.
(5)
*
_ “at oe
ela te
herein ND ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTHS.
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.
WASHINGTON, April 29, 1882.
Str: I have the honor to transmit herewith a copy of medical and anthropological notes of the
cruise of the revenue-cutter Corwin to Alaska and the Arctic Ocean.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
IRVING C. ROSSE, M. D.
(Through Revenue Marine.)
The Hou. SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.
ey, . Pe
WY Ci a a -
ye is ‘ .
ie | An is «=
MEDICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTES.
GENERAL NOTES.
For the man of broad ideas and enthusiasm for humanity, more especially for the medical
man, there exists but one people, namely, the human race, which he studies in all its varieties, physical
and moral, in order not to hesitate, according to the expression of Hippocrates, in the treatment of
disease. Experience and observation show, however, that no wide differences exist in the race
when regarded from a biological or a medical aspect; and the infirmities of men, notwithstanding
their physical inequalities and the extended range of the nosological table, are much the same the
world over, no matter whether they be classified as belonging to the Caucasian, Mongolian, or
Hyperborean races.
The object of this paper is to record, in a fragmentary way, some observations, as they have
occurred to the writer during a late hyperborean experience, which afforded exceptional advan-
tages for noting a few of the changes and variations that are brought about in the humau economy
by climatic influences and the environments of high latitudes—by the surroundings, in fact, of that
part of the earth which Hippocrates places under the constellation of the Bear and beyond the
Riphzan Mountains whence blows the north wind, and where the sun, says he, is near them only
in the summer solstice, but warms these places only a short time; the winds which blow from warm
countries reaching there but seldom and with little force.
These simple, true, and philosophical observations of the “divine old man,” it may be remarked,
are in striking contrast to those of Tacitus, who indulges in the usual mixture of true and false
which fills the pages of the ancients when treating of geographical subjects.
Whether the early Greek conception of the people living beyond the north wind and giving rise
to the Delian legends was based on any geographical relations at all, or was originally the myth-
ical notion of the poets relative to an imaginary race, it is difficult to say—the question only raising
a doubt that places us in a dilemma. Fabulous or not, we know that the subject was one of pop-
ular interest in high antiquity, giving rise to a work on the Hyperboreans in the time of Alexander
the Great, and that when Virgil and Horace speak of the ‘‘ Hyperborex ore” and “‘ Hyperborei
campi” to indicate most northerly, they only made use of expressions which have served as con-
necting links in literature to extend the interest from the epoch of Hecatzeus of Abdera down to
the days of Mr. James Gordon Bennett.
Among the numerous historic men who have sought adventure in this most weird, remote,
and wonderful part of the globe from the early times of Naddod the Viking and Garder, down to
Markham and De Long, we hear such tales of privation, disease, and suffering that the wonder
is that men should still see about the mysterious regions of the north so much that is fascinating
und romantic. But as the subject is not to be treated from a sentimental or an esthetic point of
view, these pretatory remarks must yield to considerations of a more practical and commonplace
character.
THE VOYAGE.
In obedience to instructions I proceeded overland to San Francisco, Cal.; and after an unavoid.
able delay of several days from irregularities of railway travel, which had been interrupted by the
floods of the Missouri-Mississippi River, 1 joined the Arctic Relief steamer Corwin on May 2. An
inspection showed the Corwin to be in good sanitary condition with the exception of imperfect
ventilation of the berth-deck and ward-room, the means for furnishing air to these overcrowded
apartments being inadequate to supply every occupant with the twenty cubic feet of fresh air
every minute which the best authorities agree that a healthy man requires. The insalubrity of the
(9)
H. Ex. 105———2
10 CRUISE OF STEAMER OJRWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN.
berth-deck was further increased by the humidity brought about by the habit of deluging the decks
above and below every morning with water. At my suggestion this very reprehensible practice
was happily abolished on the berth-deck, scraping and dry serubbing being substituted, and the
deck was not wetted oftener than once or twice a month, and only at times when the prevalence of
fine weather would justify doing so.
After procuring such a medical outfit as the exigencies of the cruise might require, and after
taking the necessary precautions as to the hygienic condition of the vessel and crew, we started on
our humane mission, putting to sea on May 4 and meeting with seven or eight uneventful days of
pleasant weather, exceptionally so for the season. The ocean, somewhat deserving of the adjective
that designates it, displayed its prettiest combinations of lapis lazuli and ultramarine tints and
sunset effects as we steamed through miles of meduside; and had it not been for the occasional
sight of whales and little black divers, with the daily fall in the thermometer, we should not have
known of our approach to the north. This happy state of affairs did not continue long on reaching
a higher latitude, where we were beset by pelting hail and furious storms of snow and all the
discomforts of sea life, causing a pénible navigation in every sense of the term. The increased
cold, as we neared the north, had no perceptible effect for the worse on the health of the ship’s
company; and it is gratifying to state that but few serious cases, either surgical or medical,
occurred during the entire voyage, a happy event, undonbtedly owing to the careful precautionary
measures taken to secure full efficiency and to the excellent routine and discipline.
The Corwin is a good sea vessel, being tolerably dry in bad weather, and her oscillations are
easy for a small craft. At the outset of the ernise, however, we were placed in the best possible
conditions for studying both subjectively and objectively the strange phenomena of that doleful
tribute of suffering that so many people are obliged to pay to the sea. Unfortunately so little is
known of the nature and origin of this most distressing affection, and medical science has done so
little to assuage its attacks, the wonder is that more extended experiments are not made by medical
men in regard to seasickness. In spite of many theories and hypotheses that have been advanced
to explain the phenomena of this so-called disease, we know that its causes are purely physical ;
the swinging of the diaphragm, the disturbance of the equilibrium in the fluid contents of the
body—just as the mereury pumps up and down in a barometer—and the consequent reflex impres-
sibility of the ganglionic, pneumogastric, and cerebro-spinal system of nerves producing a kind of
trisplanchnie neurosis, which varies in different individuals according to peculiarity of strueture
and susceptibility.
Experience convinces that no drug known to the pharmacopoeia will prevent or cure seasick-
ness, notwithstanding the assertions of eminent medical authority to the contrary. Resolute effort
of the will and the resort to such palliatives as drinks containing an excess of carbon dioxide,
iced champagne and bottled Milwaukee beer for example, and oranges, were found to be the
most efficacious modes of treatment adopted in the numerous cases of this almost unmitigated
evil coming under wy observation.
A portion of the crew suffered from violent phlegmon of the hand, arising doubtless from the
combined influences of long confinement on shipboard, sea diet, and unusual climatic conditions.
This affection was not confined to our vessel alone, for it prevailed extensively among the whale-
men as well. The worst cases occurred among men whose history revealed the previous existence
of syphilis. To remedy the condition it was recommended that the entire ship’s company be
allowed a run ashore as often as practicable, and that there be added to the usual dietary a ration
of cranberries, a supply of which had been laid in among other antiscorbutics. Happily, these
directions were complied with as far as possible, and I had the satisfaction to witness the good
results.
Another affection prevailing extensively among the crew was a cutaneous eruption attended by
excessive itching, which I at first suspected to be due to the presence of pediculi; but subsequent
experience showed that temporary alleviation could be brought about by the administration of
calcined magnesia and the topical application of vinegar and water. I may mention incidentally
that my friend Dr. Charles Smart, U. 8. A., who has cruised in the Arctic as far as latitude 82° on
a Peterhead whaleman, says that he has often noticed the foregoing symptoms in connection with
rheumatism among sailors, and also among soldiers in Arizona, who had been living for some time
ORUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. ri
on the army ration. He regards the symptoms to arise from inanition, and as the ones that usually
precede an outbreak of scurvy.
A few cases of return of intermittent fever brought about by wet and fatigue, and of rheuma-
tism—which seemed to be the prevailing ailment—the usual quota of headaches, constipation, and
colic, with several cases of minor surgery, and a few cases of venereal contracted at Ounalaska,
make up the sick-list so far as the crew proper is concerned.
It may not be foreign to the subject to remark that the sanitary condition of the Corwin, and
indeed of other vessels in the revenue service, night be greatly improved by covering the berth-deck
with a coating of shellac; and better ventilation might be secured by an arrangement similar to
that found on the latest English naval vessels, where a flue passes up through the side of the ship
until it opens just beneath the hammock-rail on the inside of the bulwarks, and is covered with a
Venetian blind. Further advantage, especially in the way of lightmg, would result from larger
air-ports having a glass, convex externally and prismoidal on its inner surface, in order to facilitate
the dispersion of light when the port is closed. The galley situated on the berth-deck of the
Corwin was the source of excessive condensation and drip, which was always increased in the
morning by shutting a small skylight when washing down decks; a proceeding seemingly incon-
sistent with enlightened common sense, especially when the decks have been wet the whole
previous twenty-four hours from rain or the seas washing over them. The nuisance was in a
measure abated by wiping the beams overhead and lighting a fire in a drying stove.
The facilities for warming were good throughout the ship, and the water supply was perhaps
better than usual, owing to the fact that the water in the Arctic contains but a small percentage
of organic or earthy impurities. At Ounalaska water was obtained from a small reservoir in an
adjacent hill, but it had an unpleasant earthy taste. Better water was had at Saint Michael’s
Here a spring wells up amid some rocks on the sea beach, and at low tide water may be obtained
with great facility. Good water was procured nearly everywhere in the Arctic, notably at
Chamisso Island and Choris Peninsula, and it was of unusual excellence at Cape Thompson,
also at Herald and Wrangel Islands. Distilled water, supplied by the engineers, was occasionally
used during the cruise, but as it was condensed from the main boiler without filtration it had
that peculiar nauseating, oily flavor which rendered it unfit for potable purposes.
The articles of food, consisting of the regular rations, to which had been added pemmican and
the usual antiscorbutics, such as potatoes, desiccated onions, sauerkraut, and cranberries, were of
good qrality and kept remarkably well, some butter in barrels being as good on our return as on
the day we left. Frequent opportunities also occurred to get fish and game, the ration being varied
from time to time with salmon and coregonus, auks, eider-ducks, geese, eggs (of which great quan-
tities were found on the Diomede Islands), seal, bear, and reindeer. These supplementary articles
proved not only an appetizing change from the regular ration, but their use was followed by a sense
of well-being and by improved nutrition.
The ordinary clothing was supplemented with a hooded coat of reindeer skin, seal skin trousers,
and a foot covering similar to that worn by the Eskimo. Over an ordinary pair of stockings were
drawn a pair of reindeer socks, with the hair turned in, the foot being next thrust into an Eskimo
boot of seal skin, into the bottom of which a small quantity of straw was placed as a non-conduetor,
and the whole secured by thongs after the manner of a sandal. This rig answered the purposes
of warmth and comfort; but the effect was anything but pieturesque, as the foot resembled a
disabled extremity that some bungling hospital nurse had endeavored to inclose in a poultice.
Beyond the meteorological summary obtained from the signal station at Saint Michael’s, there
are no extended weather observations to report in regard to any fixed geographical point, for the
reason that the ship seldom remained longer than a few days at a time in any one place, and it was
impossible to get any definite information from the natives, whose knowledge in this respect does
not extend beyond noticing whether the snowfall is great or little during the winter.
As regards the weather during the past season there is a marked contrast when compared to
that experienced on the Corwin’s former voyage. The sea was freer from ice, a fact doubtless
owing to the preceding mild winter and other concurrent causes, but the number of fine days was
comparatively few, and a series of gales and snow-storms continued throughout the summer. Even
as late as July 18 the decks were covered with snow and hail, and a bitter cold wind penetrated
12 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN.
our winter clothing. In striking opposition to this was the uncomfortably murky temperature of
July 21, when the thermometer registered 45°. While the above is true of the weather in the more
northern part of the Arctic, we found it in Kotzebue Sound, later in the season, much milder than
it was at a corresponding date of the previous year. In the latter part of June at Saint Michael’s
we found the sun almost overpowering, although the thermometer registered but 60°. Why this
incongruity should exist between the sensation of heat as experienced by the human body and the
actual temperature as revealed by the thermometer, we are not prepared to say. All that we know
from writers on the subject is that the sensations of heat and cold are relative and not absolute.
In different latitudes, among the Andes in Peru, for instance, the opposite condition is often
noticed, a disagreeable sensation of cold not indicated by the thermometer being one of the
experiences of travelers in that part of the world: the cold is keen and penetrating with the
thermometer standing at but 60°. An -excellent distinction is that which mentions these
phenomena as physical cold and physiological cold; the former indicating that revealed by the
thermometer, the latter that not indicated by instruments.
Many Arctic travellers have noticed this relative sensation of cold as well as the impunity, and
even a certain degree of comfort, with which they can expose themselves to a low temperature,
which would be attended by serious results in a more southern clime. Dr. Hayes relates that in
Greenland he went swimming in a pool of water on the top of an iceberg, and the captain of a New
Bedford whaler has frequently gone swimming off the coast of Siberia. Taking advantage of
one of these physiologically warm days, I took a plunge into the icy Arctic water, with no such
motive, however, as that of Leander, nor did I, like Byron, have the ague after it; on the contrary,
a swim of no great discomfort was followed e a pleasurable reaction.
The actual rise of temperature that follows upon stripping in a cold atmosphere or upon first
entering into a cold bath, is not one of the least curious phenomena of the regulative function of the
pyrogenetic mechanism. Nor is the busy activity of the metabolic tissues and the metabolism of
the food within the alimentary canal, which accounts for the source of the heat of such homother-
mous animals as whales, seals, walrus, and the pygopodous birds, a subject to be passed by
unmentioned. By what physical and chemical laws can we explain this morphological process—
this physiological action of the protoplasm resulting in the evolution of kinetic energy sufficient to
supply bodily heat to such animals as the seal and the whale, and enable them by remarkable
adaptability to withstand the extreme cold of the Arctic? Does the rete miribilia of the whale and
of the duck enable them to combine a greater quantity of oxygen with hemoglobin and thereby
act as a source of heat, or is the function of the liver the chief thermogenic source? By what
means does the energy-yielding material become changed into actual energy? Does the nervous
system, acting as a liberating force like the throttle-valve in a steam-engive, remove hinderances
or impediments to the conversion of potential into kinetic energy, or do all the internal work of
the animal organism, all the mechanical labor of the internal muscular mechanism, with their
accompanying frictions, and the molecular labor of the nervous and other tissues produce a
certain amount of heat, and thus account for the special function of calorification ?
The foregoing physiological queries, with many others, suggested themselves on hearing the
statements of whalemen and walrus hunters with reference to the scalding sensation produced
by the spurting blood while handling the bodies of recently killed animals, and it occurred to
me that a series of thermometric observations, something after the manner of the experiments
of Dr. Kidder in connection with the Fish Commission, but having for their object the investigation
of the manifestation of animal heat by the marine mammaiia, would prove interesting and supply a
scientific desideratum in addition to their novelty.
While ample opportunities occurred to make these experiments, yet it is to be regretted that the
only available instrument, a clinical thermometer, was unfortunately broken early in the season.
The experiments were, to say the least, so rough and ineoneclusive that any record of them would
be of questionable value.
Another question in connection with the Arctic cold is, whether a sojourn in this region does not
render one more susceptible to colds and disorders of the respiratory organs on returning to more
temperate latitudes. The history of Eskimo who have spent any time in our comparatively moder-
ate climate shows how they have suffered in this respect, and colds have been known to prevail
CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 13
endemically among the healthy erews of vessels lately arrived from the Arctic. It is related of a
ship of the Franklin Search Expedition, the North Star, which was frozen up during one of the
severest Arctic winters ou record, in Wostenholm Sound, that the men maintained their health
perfectly during all the trials to which they were exposed; but on their return to England in the
early summer, every man within a week was on the sick list with some form of bronchial or
pulmonary disorder. The reporter assigns the shaving off the beard as the cause of this illness.
On board the Corwin on her return to San Francisco in October, and at a time, too, when “ the
glorious climate of California” appeared at its best, no such cause existed, yet colds of the most
violent kind prevailed generally among a previously healthy crew.
Before dropping the question, it may be asked whether the psychical effects of climate were not
apparent in some of the subjective sensations as experienced by myself and others. Something
more than auditory spectra must account for some of them.
For instance, when climbing a steep cliff, with no sound to interrupt except the scream of wild
sea-birds, or ascending a mountain side amid scenery the most desolate that can well be conceived,
and in a stillness so great that the arterial pulsations are audible, how is it that certain trains of
the most incongruous and absurd thoughts usurp a prominence in the mind? Onsuch an oceasion,
why should the strains from wedding-inarches be continually running through one’s head? What
gives birth to the floating suecession of ideas regarding the delights of prospective dinners? And
why does the presence of the midnight sun cause one to forget, like Horace Greeley, whether one
has dined or not? While navigating through ice and fog, often within sight of a coast that is
treeless and swardless, why should one dream of the laughing aspect of tropical vegetation, and
of swinging in a hammock in a garden through which the summer wind bears the fragrance of
flowers? And why should a diet of pork and beans cause a man during a series of nights to dream
of sumptuous dinners, and at other times in his dreams to take part in a Barmicidal feast ?
Among various meteorological phenomena witnessed during the cruise were parbelias and fog
bows, which were of common occurrence off Wrangel Island; and toward the latter part of our
stay in the Arctic, when the sun was no longer in the summer solstice, northern lights of varying
intensity appeared, a peculiarity about one of them being a white are extending across the heavens
and accompanied by curtain-like fringes of light.
Not the least curious of the atmospheric phenomena are the modifications of nervous excitability
in connection with the perception of light—the wonderful optical illusions witnessed from time to
time during periods of extraordinary and unequal refraction. One day in July, at Saint Michael’s,
T saw on looking northward an island high up in the air and inverted; some distant peaks, invisible
on ordinary occasions, loomed up at one time the very shape of a tower-topped building magnified,
and suddenly changing assumed the shape of immense factory chimneys. Again, off Port Clarence,
was witnessed the optical phenomenon of dancing mountains and the mirage of ice fifty miles
away, which caused our experienced ice pilot to say, “ No use to goin here; don’t you see the ice ?”
Again, the mountains of Bering Straits have so betrayed the imagination that they have been seen
to assume the most fantastical and grotesque shapes, at one moment that of a mountain not unlike
Table Mountain, off the Cape of Good Hope; then the changing diorama shows the shape of an
immense anvil, followed by the likeness of an enormous gun mounted en barbette, the whole stand-
ing out in silhouette against the background, while looking in an opposite direction at another time
a whaling vessel turned bottom upward appeared inthe sky. On another occasion, in latitude 70°,
when the state of the air was favorable to extraordinary refraction, a white gull swimming on the
water in the distant horizon was taken for an iceberg, or more correctly a floeberg, other gulls in
the distance, looming up, looked for all the world like white tents on a beach, while others resem-
bled men with white shirts paddling a canoe. Again, two whaling ships that we knew to be sixty
miles away, appeared on the distant sky as elongated afternoon shadows ; minute stones and other
small objects on a mountain side were so distinctly seen as to cause almost a glamour, a kind of
witchery, to come over the eyesight, which, if there were no evidence to the contrary, might have
been taken as one of the hallucinations that precede certain forms of insanity, where, for example,
the sense of sight becomes so acute that a person reads a newspaper or tells the time of day from
a small watch, on the opposite side of the street. Odd phenomena were occasionally witnessed
while looking at the midnight sun, especially when he began to get low in the horizon. His disk
14 ORUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN.
would sometimes appear flattened like a door-knob, or to convey a more sensuous image, like a
huge crimson pegtop with purple bands. It was easy, also, to distinguish by means of a marine
glass the solar spots, the eye not being overwhelmed by the light but readily accommodating itself
to the rays of the summer sun, which, owing to his low declination, are nowhere so delicate as they
are in the far north.
Some of the strange acoustics experienced in this region are not unworthy of mention. | | ie cs hy | als ts iS
S| oe] |g sea a-ha tei hh Biel e Pye valieee lhe er eS 4 Sm ae a ie a =: et G5
5 reat Scot seat ls ea ft rs ed = Bi a | | ° $ @ & a % °
4 5 o|e hese edi Qse 3 E = le ilzz | | > + : Se S Ee o
SB. | 42, 58 |e he POH | oR LB [Be Ba) oe 4 plete ee eae E g
e| elgz|é Soe eae eee : ecalee Z
p |e). | : “UOl
5 4 | &5 | 9 T8300 | 5 e | 5. B @ Se | | | A A[UO 10119 [BUSOU ~eagya pus ‘1041 4. Pa
5 > a. a m@ ||] S|] we | | | ° | Nijsul puw 91n4eB ‘
Bice ef ig Bis o|\co8 | B -radui9} 10J poyoorsog | WVoCNASUT So e
| Ba) Be 2 Praleso eat eee ae . maT £0 DANE IAONE tae ‘oe
z ae Spel et “‘SUOTJBAIOS
B| Fa) 8 | Bell -qo o1ydvise[oy, *SUOIJBAIOSqO OI dBisolOT,
Ny | —
B/E | § ae {| __ : :
5 } —
¢ sh =e 4 ‘so[tur Jo 1aqum Ny | Q. “QSUBI —Jo uvoyl ‘esuBy —jo uses
eed = ee ae aS 205 eae eee Soa Carre ee :
5 ° 4
Z a “aNIM 8 ‘AULANONUAH, ‘AaLEWOUV
‘AUVAMS TVOINOTOXOR. LAN
Hair: SAINT LAWRENCE ESKIMO, Hair: SAINT LAWRENCE ESKIMO.
(75 diameters.) (75 diameters.)
HAIR : TRANSVERSE SECTION : SAINT LAWRENCE ESkIMo.
(75 diameters.)
Heliotype Printing Co., Boston,
CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 23
In addition to the frequent disorders of the respiratory organs, rheumatism and affections of
the alimentary canal are quite common. The latter are principally due to overloading the stomach
after a long fast, and indigestion from this cause is so frequent that it is no uncommon thing to
find an Eskimo suffering for several days from all the remorse of a guilty stomach. The women,
too, are at times violently hysterical, and in this respect do not differ much from their more civilized
sisters.
AFFECTIONS OF THE EYE.
Diseases of the eye and its appendages are quite numerous, and among them I noticed
several cases of opacity of the crystalline lens and of the cornea, and of fatty and pigmental
degeneration. Ophthalmia tarsi in its chronic form and granular inflammation of the conjunctiva
are common along with amblyopia and asthenopia, and it is not at all unlikely that a specialist
might exhaust the ophthalmological vocabulary in describing the diseases he might observe.
Among these numerous eye diseases, however, I observed but two cases of total blindness ;
one ina man at Saint Lawrence [sland and another at Saint Michael’s in a native from the interior.
Mr. Petroff, whose duties as census agent have afforded bim great facilities for observing the inte-
rior population, informs me that blindness is almost universal among the older people, most of
whom get blind on reaching the age of fifty. This blindness, common also to the lower animals,
was once observed by him in a bear at Prince William Sound. The bear with several others
was seen approaching his party on the beach, and the singular actions of this particular bear
attracting attention, from the uncertain way in which he walked and was pushed about by the noses
of the other bears, it was singled out and shot, when an examination showed the previous existence
of total blindness, which of course accounted for the odd movements of the animal.
These eye affections are not caused by smoke as has been erroneously supposed: they are
mostly the result of snow blindness, in which the sensibility of the end-organs, the rods and cones,
is diminished or exhausted by the prolonged illumination from the constant sunlight and the glare
from broad expanses of brightly glistening snow. The rarefaction of the arctic atmosphere, the
insufficient and impoverished condition of the blood brought about by bad feeding and the strumous
diathesis, may likewise be mentioned as predisposing causes.
It may not be digressing from the subject to cite an observation of Mr. Edwards, surgeon to
Sir Edward Parry’s second expedition, who has noticed in the Eskimo what he believed to be a
rudimentary nictitating membrane resembling that which protects the eyes of some animals. The
peculiarity he points out as common to many individuals of Melville Peninsula, and consists in the
inner corner of the eye being covered by a duplication of the adjacent loose skin. This fold is lightly
stretched over the edges of the eyelids, covering the carunculus lachrymalis, which in Europeans
is exposed, and forms, as it were, a third lid of crescentric shape. This singularity was ascertained
to be very remarkable in childhood, less so toward the adult age, and then frequently disappear-
ing altogether, the proportion in which it existed in grown up persons being small compared with
that observed among the young.*
An interesting question in this connection is the form of the fibres of the cones and rods in the
retina of the Eskimo. It is known that in animals, the habits of which are nocturnal, such as owls
and bats, the cones are wholly wanting, and rods alone are present; so a variation may have
occurred in the eye of the Eskimo in this particular as one of the results of his contlict with his
circumstances. But this is mere speculation, and the incorrect observation of Mr. Edwards, when
viewed in the light of more recent ophthalmological knowledge, would seem to be nothing more nor
less than a congenital defect, owing to the laxity of the skin at the root of the nose and of the folds
on a level with the inner canthus of the eye known as epicanthus, which often disappears with the
development of the bones of the nose, and is remediable by an operation or the application of
electricity to the muscles of the face.
Although applications from the Eskimo for “ eye-medicine” were quite frequent, yet I was
unable to find out much regarding the means taken by them to treat or prevent eye diseases. In
the quaint old book of Hans Egede, a missionary who spent twenty five years among the Green-
landers, is an account of an operation that he has seen Eskimo perform for removing a film from
* Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, vol. 36, 1844.
24 CRUISE JF STEAMER CORWIN IN THEARCTIO OCEAN.
the eye with a hooked needle and a knife, which from the description appears to be the same as the
modern operation for pterygium. No operative procedure of the kind came under observation ;
but it was noticed that the use of a shade for protection was quite common, also eye-blinkers
made of wood in which was cut a slit after the manner of the stenopaic slit of oculists used to
correct astigmatism. ;
From imperfect observation and the difficulty experienced in communicating intelligently with
the Eskimo I was unable to determine whether acritochromacy existed among them to any great
extent. That this functional trouble does exist we know from Nordenskiéld, who ascertained the
fact after actual experiment. Many of them, however, possess eye-sight that is perfectly wonder-
ful, being endowed with the acuity of vision peculiar to nomads and hunters who spend a great
deal of time in the open air, which enables them to descry distant objects only discernible to ordi-
nary eyes by means of a spy-glass.
At several places I saw Eskimo using spy-glasses and opera-glasses, with the use of which
they were perfectly familiar. As far north as Point Barrow, the northwestern extremity of America,
I saw an old fellow with a pair of opera-glasses of French manufacture, which he carried carefully
protected in a skin bag hung around his neck. Another pair was in possession of a man at Cape
Kruzenstern, who showed how they were useful to him in stalking reindeer.
ARCTIC MOSQUITOES.
Mosquitoes were found to be quite troublesome at Saint Michael’s. How strange that the busy
drone of these little dipterous insects, recalling the solicitations for a pour boire in a French café,
should importune one’s ears at a spot so far north beyond the domain of the ordinary “ globe trot-
ter” and unknown to tourists! The little pests are more widely distributed than the Innuit race or
the reindeer, to both of whom they cause great annoyance during the short Arctic summer. Frail
as they are in body they have reached as far north as man has penetrated, having been found
by the Nares Expedition, and unlike other insects they seem to have no relations to the external
conditions by which they are surrounded, being in fact cosmopolitan and having no zoological
province. Not only are they unconfined to any limited or definite area, their distribution in
time is contemporaneous with if not antecedent to man, as their fossil remains have been found
in the Tertiary beds of the Lower White River, Colorado; and an instance is even recorded of their
affording material for Eskimo wit at Lieutenant Schwatka’s expense, who was facetiously styled
by these people “the big mosquito.”
Mr. Seebohm, a naturalist who visited Northern Siberia to study the birds, writes:
But there is one great drawback to visiting this charming country, and that is the reason why it is so frequented by
birds—the myriads of mosquitoes. Life without a veil I believe would be perfectly unendurable. I was obliged to wear
thick leather gloves, andon many occasions, when shooting, if I was too long in taking aim, I had to shakethe barrel to get
the mosquitoes off, and then take another aim quickly before they lighted again, otherwise I could not see the bird at all.
Arctic mosquitoes as encountered by us surpassed anything I have ever seen in New Jersey,
for instance, where it is said they collect at times in such clouds around village church steeples as
to be mistaken for smoke and cause an alarm of fire. Although they were worse than anything that
I ever experienced at such places as Tybee Island, Georgia, the New Orleans quarantine station, or
on the Rio Grande River, they differ from the southern insect in several respects. In the first place
they are more pilose and more plumose, and have not so much nimbleness and activity, in conse-
quence of which they are unable to get out of the way quickly and can easily be killed almost by |
the handful; but they seem to be just as venomous and persistent as their southern congeners.
Owing to their excessive annoyance, at times it was found to be almost impossible to use the
instruments in taking observations when the position of a spot on shore was to be determined.
On one occasion at a desolate spot on the top of Chamisso Island, about 200 feet above the sea
level, we found an astronomical station, which had been established by parties from English ships
in search of Sir John Franklin, and near it was a notice telling something about a bottle buried
so many feet to the magnetic north. Curiosity, of course, prompted to get it by all means, but the
mosquitoes coming in such myriads actually caused the search to be abandoned. Many of the men
of the Corwin’s crew were seriously incommoded by their bites and stings on exposed parts of the
body, one man’s neck and face being so swollen from this cause that he was temporarily deprived
of eyesight.
CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 25
MEDICAL AND SURGICAL REMARKS.
No serious epidemics have occurred at Saint Michael’s since 1840, when small-pox was intro-
duced by the Russians. This is probably the northern limit of that disease on the Pacific Ameri-
can coast. Of 550 cases occuring at Saint Michael’s and Kolmakovsky 200 died, and a famine
ensued because of the death of so many of the hunters and providers.*
This post having been for a long time in possession of the Russians before the Alaskan
purchase, numerous half-breeds are found in the vicinity, for whom the so-called strumous diath-
esis seems to have the preference. That diseases of the latter character have prevailed for some
time may be assumed from examination of an aboriginal skull exhumed from the neighboring grave-
yard at Saint Michael’s. There is shown extensive necrosis of the bones composing the apex of the
skull, also of the temporal and occipital bones and the left half of the inferior maxilla.
It appears that variola prevailed among the Alaskans previously to the Russian occupation,
for several early Spanish navigators mention having noticed the marks of small-pox among the
natives of Sitka Bay and Port Bucareli on Prince William Sound. The first mention is made by
Don Francisco Antonio Maurelle, who explored the coast in 1775. “Journal of a Voyage in 1775
to explore the coast of America northward of California,” published in English, Edinburgh,
1802. The other reference is “ Relacion del Viaga Heche por los Goletas dutil y Mexicana en el
ano de 1792, Madrid, 1801.”
Hagemeister (Report on Russian Colonies, 1820) says that the first vaccine matter was brought
to Alaska in 1808 by the ship Neva,‘and the surgeon, Mardhorst, who introduced vaccination,
instructed the agents of the company in performing the operation. From Tikhmenieff we learn
that;400 natives and 1 Russian died of small-pox at Sitka in 1836, and the disease being carried to
Kodiak the following year, in March, it caused the death of 737 people.
On the Alaskan Peninsula vaccination seems to haveafforded protection from the disease, for
but 27 deaths occurred out of 243 cases. At Ounalaska there were 180 cases, of which 130 died.
At Cook’s Inlet, the natives refusing to be vaccinated, the mortality is reported to have been greater,
but no figures are given. The last cases occurred there in 1840. The reappearance of small-pox
was noticed at Sitka in 1862, and it traveled northward, but vaccination is alleged to have lessened
the mortality of previous epidemics.
On reaching Saint Lawrence Bay, Siberia, a native was taken aboard at his own request with
a view to utilize his services, as he spoke a little English. This fellow had a fatuous expression
of countenance and a choreie affection which kept up an intermittent twitching of his head. After
several days he suffered from constipation and insomnia, for which the usual remedies were admin-
istered, with the effect best described in the patient’s own phraseology when questioned at morning
sick call: ‘Lass night big sick; to-day small sick; all same bime by good.” However, the bustle
and stir on board a steam-vessel, with the unusual surroundings, caused a return of the insomnia,
and the fellow’s state of mind was not improved by seeing our collection of aboriginal crania nor
by the chaff and gibes of the men in the forecastle, who made him believe that he was to be taken
to San Francisco in a box as an anatomical curiosity, all of which causes tended to produce an
illusion of the imagination that exercised a despotism over his weak and uncultivated intellect-
High authority asserts that all suicides originate either from insanity or moral cowardice. Here
undoubtedly. is an instance in which the disorder of the relations between mental and physical
functions was of such a nature as to destroy the current presumptions founded on these relations
as existing in health—the man stabbed himself and jumped into the sea. Happily he was fished
aboard with great promptness, ‘a boat being alongside at the time. An inspection showed a pene-
trating wound of the chest just under the left nipple, the knife having entered several inches ; blood
and air escaped from the wound every time the patient coughed, and the hand placed over the
surface of the chest showed extensive effusion of blood into the thoracic cavity with the peculiar
mucous bubbling or gurgling of traumatopneea. With such a formidable array of symptoms the
patient ought to have perished promptly from asphyxia, notwithstanding the application of an
occlusive dressing to the wound, a tight roller bandage around the chest, and the administration
of the usual stimulant and opiate. After considerable delirium, followed by orthopnea, it was
* Tikhmenieff: Historical Review of the Russian Colonies. Vol. I, p. 311-13.
H, Ex. 105 4
26 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN.
surprising to notice the presence of favorable symptoms and ultimate improvement. In a few days
the patient was landed at Plover Bay, Siberia, where he recovered sufficiently to start on foot for
his home over a rugged mountain way 150 miles distant. —
Some weeks thereafter the Corwin happening to stop in at Plover Bay, I inquired of a native,
remarkable for his whaleman’s English and apothegmatical way of putting things, whether my
patient had got well, to which he replied, ‘Yes; small well.” I learned subsequently from a whal-
ing vessel, on board which this man had made a visit at Saint Lawrence Bay, that he had entirely
recovered from his wound, but still labored under the delusion that his life had been attempted by
the captain of the Corwin.
One ease of hermetical sealing of a wound of the foregoing description does not prove much,
to be sure, and it is hardly necessary to advocate a subject that has been the occasion of much
discussion; but it does seem that the occlusive treatment, which has been sanctioned and prac-
ticed by such masters as Guy de Chauliac, John de Vigo, Paré, Graefe, of Berlin, and others, has
its virtues, notwithstanding a different and unwarrantable assumption put before the public in a
late official publication.
Wounds seem to heal uncommonly well in the Arctic, a fact doubtless owing to the highly
ozonized condition of the atmosphere and the absence of disease germs and organic dust. It is
noticeable both in man and animals. At King’s Island I saw a whale’s rib in which reunion had
taken place after a fracture probably caused by a bomb lance, and I have also seen a bear with
several reunited ribs which had been fractured by a musket ball that had previously passed through
the skull.
‘a
¥
’ o
®
a
x
;
=
i
‘
a
ee
és
Fiat is
ie
;
_
CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 29
and astonishment at some exhibitions we gave them on several occasions. Receiving a challenge
to run a foot-race with an Eskimo, I came off easy winner, although I was handicapped by being
out of condition at the time; a challenge to throw stones also resulted in the same kind of victory ;
I shouldered and carried some logs of drift-wood that none of them could lift, and on another
oceasion the captain and I demonstrated the physical superiority of the Anglo-Saxon by throwing
a walrus lance several lengths farther than any of the Eskimo who had provoked the competition.
As a rule they are deficient in biceps, and have not the well-developed muscles of athletic white
men. The best muscular development I saw was among the natives of Saint Lawrence Island,
who, by the way, showed me a spot in a village where they practiced athletic sports, one of these
diversions being lifting and ‘“ putting” heavy stones, and I have gracefully to acknowledge that
a young Eskimo got the better of me in a competition of this kind. It is fair to assume that one
reason for this physical superiority was the inexorable law of the survival of the fittest, the natives
in question being the survivors of a recent prevailing epidemic and famine.
ESKIMO APPETITES.
As far as my experience goes the Eskimo have not the enormous appetites with which they
are usually accredited. The Eskimo who accompanied Lieutenant May, of the Nares Expedition,
on his sledge journey, is reported to have been a small eater, and the only case of scurvy, by
the way; the Eskimo employed on board the Corwin as dog drivers and interpreters were as
a rule smaller eaters than our own men, and I have observed, on numerous occasions, among
the Eskimo I have visited, that instead of being great gluttons they are on the contrary mod-
erate eaters. It is, perhaps, the revolting character of their food—rancid oil, a tray of hot
seal entrails, a bowl of coagulated blood, for example—that causes overestimation of the quantity
eaten. Persons in whom nausea and disgust are awakened at tripe, putrid game, and moldy and
maggoty cheese affected by so-called epicures, not to mention the bad oysters which George I
preferred to fresh ones, would doubtless be prejudiced and incorrect observers as to the quantity
of food an Eskimo might consume. From some acquaintance with the subject I, therefore, venture
to say that the popular notion regarding the great appetite of the Eskimo is one of the current
fallacies. The reported cases were probably exceptional ones happening in subjects who had been
exercising and living on little else than frozen air for perhaps a week. Any vigorous man in the
prime of life who has been shooting all day in the sharp, crisp air of the Arctic will be surprised
at his gastronomic capabilities; and personal knowledge of some almost incredible instances
among civilized men might be related, were it not for fear of being accused of transcending the
bounds of veracity.
ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT.
There is so much about certain parts of Alaska to remind one of Scotland, that we wonder why
some of the more southern Eskimo have not the intrepidity and vigor of Scotchmen, since they live
under almost the same topographical conditions amid fogs and misty hills. Perhaps if they were
fed on oatmeal, and could be made to adopt a few of the Scotch manners and customs, religious
and otherwise, they might, after infinite ages of evolution, develop some of the qualities of that
excellent race. Itis probably not so very many generations ago that our British progenitors were
like these original and primitive men as we find them in the vicinity of Bering Straits. Here the
mind is taken back over centuries, and one is enabled to study the link of transition between the
primitive men of the two continents at the spot where their geographical relations lead us to
suspect it. Indeed the primitive man may be seen just as he was thousands of years ago, by
visiting the village perched, like the eyry of some wild bird, about 200 feet up the side of the cliff at
Hast Cape on the Asiatic side of the Straits. This bold, rocky cliff, rising sheer from the sea to the
height of 2,100 feet, consists of granite with lava here and there, and the indications point to the
overflow of a vast ice sheet from the north, evidences of which are seen in the trend of the ridges on
the top and the form of the narrow peninsula joining the cliff to the mainland. From the summit
of the cape the Diomedes, Fairway Rock, and the American coast are so easily seen that the
view once taken would dispel any doubts as to the possibility of the aboriginal denizens of America
having crossed over from Asia, and it would require no such statement to corroborate the opinion
30 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN.
as that of an officer of the Hudson Bay Company, then resident-in Ungava Bay, who relates that
in 1839 an Eskimo family crossed to Labrador from the northern shore of Hudson’s Straits on a
raft of drift-wood. Natives cross and recross Bering Straits to-day on the ice and in primitive
skin canoes, not unlike Cape Cod dories, which have not been improved in construction since the
days of prehistoric man. Indeed the primitive man may be seen at East Cape almost as he was
thousands of years ago. Evolution and development, with the exception of fire-arms, seem to
have halted at East Cape. The place with its cave-like dwellings and skin-clad inhabitants, among
whom the presence of white men creates the same excitement as the advent of a circus among the
colored population of Washington, makes one fancy that he is in some grand prehistoric museum
and that he has gone backward in time several thousand years in order to get there.
While we may do something towards tracing the effects of physical agents on the Eskimo
back into the darkness that antedates history, yet his geographical origin and his antiquity are
things concerning which we know but little. Being subjects of first-class interest deserving of
grave study and so vast in themselves, they cannot be touched upon here except incidentally.
Attempting to study them is like following the labyrinthal ice mazes of the Arctic in quest of
the North Pole, and only ends in a wild-goose chase.
We may, however, venture the assertion that the Eskimo is of autocthonic origin in Asia, but
is not autocthonous in America. His arrival there and subsequent migrations are beyond the
reach of history or tradition. Others, though, contend from the analogy of some of the western
tribes of Brazil, who are identical in feature to the Chinese, that the Eskimo may have come from
South America; and the fashion of wearing labrets, which is common to the indigenous population
both of Chili and Alaska, has been cited as a further proof.
Touching the subject of early migrations Mr. Charles Wolcott Brooks, whose sources of informa-
tion have been exceptionally good, reports in a paper to the California Academy of Sciences
a record of sixty Japanese junks, which were blown off the coast and by the influence of the
Kuro-Shiwo were drifted or stranded on the coast of North America, or on the Hawaiian or
adjacent islands. As merchant ships and ships of war are known to have been built in Japan
prior to the Christian era, a great number of disabled junks containing small parties of Japanese
must have been stranded on the Aleutian Islands and on the Alaskan coast in past centuries,
thereby furnishing evidence of a constant infusion of Japanese blood among the coast tribes.
Leaving aside any attempt to show the ethnical relations of these facts, the question naturally
occurs whether any of these waifs ever found their way back from the American coast. On
observing the course of the great circle of the Kuro-Shiwo and the course of the trade winds, one
inclines to the belief that such a thing is not beyond the range of possibility. Indeed, several
well-authenticated instances are mentioned by Mr. Brooks; and in connection with the subject he
advances a further hypothesis, namely, the American origin of the Chinese race, and shows in a
plausible way that—
‘“‘The ancestry of China may have embarked in large vessels as emigrants, perhaps from the vicinity of the Chincha
Islands, or proceeded with a large fleet, like the early Chinese expedition against Japan, or that of Julius Cesar against
Britain, or the Welsh Prince Madog and his party, who sailed from Ireland and landed in America A. D. 1170; and, in
like manner, in the dateless antecedure of history, crossed from the neighborhood of Peru to the country now known to us
as China.’’
If America be the oldest continent, paleontologically speaking, as Agassiz tells us, there appears
to be some reason for looking to it as the spot where early traces of the human race are to be found,
and the fact would seem to warrant further study and investigation in connection with the indigenous
people of our continent, thereby awakening new sources of inquiry among ethnologists.
LINGUISTIC PECULIARITIES.
The sienite plummet from San Joaquin Valley, California, goes back to the distant age of the
Drift; and the Calaveras skull, admitting its authenticity, goes back to the Pliocene epoch, and is
older than the relics or stone implements from the drift gravel and the European caves.
It is doubtful, though, whether these sources enable us to make generalizations equal in value
to those afforded by the study of vocabularies. It is alleged that linguistic affinities exist between
some of the tribes of the American coast and our Oriental neighbors across the Pacific. Mr. Brooks,
BALEEN FRINGE,
(75 diameters.)
REINDEER Hair.
(75 diameters.)
Heliotype Printing Co., Boston.
CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. BT |
whom I have already quoted, reports that in March, 1860, he took an Indian boy on board the
Japanese steam-corvette Kanrin-maru, where a comparison of Coast-Indian and pure Japanese was
made at his request by Funkuzawa Ukitchy, then admiral’s secretary; the result of which he
prepared for the press and published with a view to suggest further linguistic investigation.
He says that quite an infusion of Japanese words is found among some of the Coast tribes of Oregon
and California, either pure or clipped, along with some very peculiar Japanese ‘idioms, construc-
tions, honorific, separative, and agglutinative particles;” that shipwrecked Japanese are invariably
enabled to communicate understandingly with the Coast Indians, although speaking quite a different
language, and that many shipwrecked Japanese have informed him that they were enabled to
communicate with and understand the natives of Atka and Adakh Islands of the Aleutian group.
With a view to finding out whether any linguistic affinity existed between Japanese and the
Eskimo dialects in the vicinity of Bering Straits, I caused several Japanese boys, employed as
servants on board the Corwin, to talk on numerous occasions to the natives, both of the American
and Asiatic coasts; but in every instance they were unable to understand the Eskimo, and assured
me that they could not detect a single word that bore any resemblance to words in their own
language. :
The study of the linguistic peculiarities which distinguish the population around Bering
Straits offers an untrodden path in a new field; but it is doubtful whether the results, except to
linguists like Cardinal Mezzofanti, or philologists of the Max Miiller type, would be at all commen-
surate with the efforts expended in this direction; since it is asserted that the human voice is
incapable of articulating more than twenty distinct sounds, therefore whatever resemblnaces there
may bein the particular words of different languages are of no ethnic value. Although these may
be the views of many persons not only in regard to the Eskimo tongue but in regard to philology
in general, the matter has a wonderful fascination for more speculative minds.
Much has been said about the affinity of language among the Eskimo—some asserting that it is
such as to allow mutual intercourse everywhere—but instances warrant us in concluding that con-
siderable deviations exist in their vocabularies if not in the grammatical construction. For instance,
take two words that one hears oftener than any others: On the Alaskan coast they say ‘‘na-koo-
ruk,” a word meaning ‘ good,” “all right,” &e.; on the Siberian coast “‘ma-zink-ah,” while a vocab-
ulary collected during Lieutenant Schwatka’s expedition gives the word ‘ mah-muk’-poo” for “good.”
The first two of these words are so characteristic of the tribes on the respective shores above the
straits that a better designation than any yet given to them by writers on the subject would be
Nakoorooks for the people on the American side and Mazinkahs for those on the Siberian coast.
These names, by which they know each other, are in general use among the whalemen and were
adopted by every one on board the Corwin.
Again, on the American coast ‘‘ Am-a-luk-tuk” signifies plenty, while on the Siberian coast it
is ““Num-kuck-ee.” ‘Tee-tee-tah” means needles in Siberia, in Alaska it is “mitkin.” In the
latter place when asking for tobacco they say “ te-ba-muk,” while the Asiatics say “ salopa.”
That a number of dialects exists around Bering Straits is apparent to the most superficial observer.
The difference in the language becomes apparent after leaving Norton Sound. The interpreter we
took from Saint Michael’s could only with difficulty understand the natives at Point Barrow, while
at Saint Lawrence Island and on the Asiatic side he could understand nothing at all. At East
Cape we saw natives who, though apparently alike, did not understand one another’s language. I
saw the same thing at Cape Prince of Wales, the western extremity of the New World, whither a
number of Eskimo from the Wankarem River, Siberia, had come to trade. Doubtless there is a
community of origin in the Eskimo tongue, and these verbal divergencies may be owing to the
want of written records to give fixity to the language, since languages resemble living organisms
by being in a state of continual change. Be that as it may, we know that this people has
- imported a number of words from coming in contact with another language, just as the French
have incorporated into their speech “le steppeur,” “Voutsider,” “le high life,” “le steeple chase,”
“le jockey club,” &c.—words that have no correlatives in French—so the Eskimo has appropriated
from the whalers words which, as verbal expressions of his ideation, are undoubtedly better than
anything in his own tongue. One of these is “by and by,” which he uses with the same frequency
that a Spaniard does his favorite manana por le manano. In this instance the words express the
ae CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN,
state of development and habits of thought—one the lazy improvidence of the Eskimo, and the
other the “to-morrow” of the Spaniard, who has indulged that propensity so-far that his nation
has become one of yesterday.
The change of the Eskimo language, brought about by its coming in contact with another, forms
an important element in its history, and has been mentioned by the older writers, also by Gilder,
who reports a change in the language of the Iwillik Eskimo to have taken place since the advent
among them of the white men. Among other peculiarities of their phraseology occurs the word
“tanuk” signifying whiskey, and it is said to have originated with an old Eskimo employed by
Moore as a guide and dog driver when he wintered in Plover Bay. Every day about noon that
personage was in the habit of taking his appetizer and usually said to the Eskimo, ‘Come, Joe,
let’s take our tonic.” Like most of his countrymen, Joe was not slow to learn the meaning of the
word, and to this day the firm hold “tanuk” has.on the language is only equaled by the thirst
for the fluid which the name implies. Among the Asiatic Eskimo the word “um-muck” is com-
mon for “rum,” while “em-mik” means water. Even words brought by whalers from the South
Sea Islands have obtained a footing, such as “kow-kow” for food, a word in general use, and
““pow” for ‘‘no,” or “not any.” They also call their babies “ pick-a-nee-nee,” which to many per-
sons will suggest the Spanish word or the southern negro idiom for “baby.” The phrase “ pick-
a-nee-nee kowkow” is the usual formula in begging food for their children. An Eskimo, having
sold us a reindeer, said it would be “ mazinkah kowkow” (good eating), and one windy day we
were hauling the seine, and an Eskimo seeing its empty condition when pulled on to?the beach,
said “‘Pow’ fish; bimeby ‘pow’ wind, plenty fish.”
The fluency with which some of these fellows speak a mixture of pigeon English and whale-
man’s jargon is quite astonishing, and suggests the query whether their fluency results from the
aggressiveness of the English or whether it is an evidence of their aptitude? It seems wonderful
how a people we are accustomed to look upon as ignorant, benighted, and undeveloped, can learn
to talk English with a certain degree of fluency and intelligibility from the short intercourse held
once a year with a few passing ships. How many “hoodlums” in San Francisco, for instance,
learn anything of Norwegian or German from frequenting the wharves? How many “wharf rats”
or stevedores in New York learn anything of these languages from similar intercourse? Or, for
that matter, we may ask, How many New York pilots have acquired even the smallest modicum
of French from boarding the steamers of the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique?
From a few examples it will be seen that the usage followed by the Eskimo in its grammatical
variations rests on the fixity of the radical syllable and upon the agglomeration of the different
particles intended to modify the primitive sense of this root, that is to say upon the principle of
agglutinative languages. One or two instances may suffice to show the agglutinate character of
the language. Canoe is ‘“o-me-uk;” ship, ‘‘ 0-me-uk-puk ;” steamer, ‘ o-me-uk-puk-ignelik ;” and
this composite mechanical structure reaches its climax in steam-launch, which they call “ o-me-uk-
puk-ignelik-pick-a-nee-nee.” .
For snow and ice in their various forms there are also many words, which show further the
polysynthetic structure of the language—a fact contrary to that primitive condition of speech
where there are no inflections to indicate the relations of the words to each other. It will not do
to omit ‘‘O-kee-chuck” from this enumeration—a word signifying trade, barter, or sale, and one
most commonly heard among these people. When they wish to say a thing is bad they use
“ A-shu-ruk,” and when disapproval is meant they say “‘ pe-chuk.” The latter word also expresses
general negation. For instance, on looking into several unoccupied houses a native informs us
“Tnnuit pechuk,” meaning that the people are away or not at home; “ Allopar” is cold, and
‘“‘allopar pechuk” is hot. Persons fond of tracing resemblances may find in “ Ignik” (fire) a
similarity to the Latin ignis or the English “ignite,” and from ‘“ Un-gi-doo-ruk” (big, huge) the
transition down to ‘“ hunky-dory” is easy. Those who see a sort of complemental relation to each —
other of linguistic affinity and the conformity in physical characters may infer from ‘ Mikey-doo-
rook” (a term of endearment equivalent to “Mavourneen” and used in addressing little children)
that the inhabitants within the Polar Circle have something of the Emerald Isle about them. But
no, they are not Irish, for when they are about to leave the ship or any other place for their houses
they say “to-hum;” consequently they are Yankees.
CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE AROTIC OCEAN. 3D
I do not wish to be thought frivolous in my notions regarding the noble science of philology ;
but when one considers the changes that language is constantly undergoing, the inability of the
human voice to articulate more than twenty distinct sounds, and the wonderful amount of ingen-
ious learning that has been wasted by philologists on trifling subjects, one is disposed to associate
many of their deductions with the savage picture writing on Dighton Rock, the Cardiff Giant, and
the old wind-mill at Newport.
ESKIMO DIETETICS.
Attempts to trace or discover the origin of races through supposed philological analogies do
not possess the advantage of certainty afforded by the study of the means by which individuals of
the race supply the continuous demands of the body with the nutriment necessary to maintain life
and health.
Everybody has heard of the seal, bear, walrus, and whale in connection with Eskimo dietetics,
and doubtless the stomachs of most persons would revolt at the idea of eating these animals, the
taste for which, by the way, is merely a matter of early education or individual preference, for
there is no good reason why they should not be just as palatable to the northern appetite as pig,
sheep, and beef are to the inhabitants of temperate latitudes. As food they renew the nitrogenous
tissues, reconstruct the parts, and restore the functions of the Eskimo frame, prolong his existence,
and produce the same animal contentment and joy as the more civilized viands of the white man’s
table. There are more palatable things than bear or eider-duck, yet I know many persons to
whom snails, olive oil, and paté de fois gras are more repugnant. A tray full of hot seal entrails,
a bowl of coagulated blood, and putrid fish are not very inviting or lickerish to ordinary mortals,
' yet they have their analogue in the dish of some farmers who eat a preparation of pig’s bowels
known as ‘“chitterlings,” and in the blood-puddings and Limburger cheese of the Germans.
Blubber-oil and whale are not very dainty dishes, yet consider how many families subsist on half-
baked saleratus biscuits, salted pork, and oleomargarine.
On the mess table of the fur company’s establishment at Saint Paul Island, seal meat is a
daily article of consumption, and from personal experience I can testify as to its palatability,
although it reminded one of indifferent beef rather overdone. Hair seal and bear steaks were on
different occasions tried at the mess on board the Corwin, but everybody voted eider-duck and
reindeer the preference. It is not so very long since that whale was a favorite article of diet in
England and Holland, and Arctic whalemen still, to my personal knowledge, use the freshly tried
oil in cooking; for instance, in frying cakes, for which they say it answers the purpose as well as
the finest lard, while others breakfast on whale and potatoes prepared after the manner of codfish
balls. _The whale I have tasted is rather insipid eating, yet it appears to be highly nutri-
tious, judging from the well-nourished look of natives who have lived on it, and the air of greasy
abundance and happy contentment that pervades an Eskimo village just after the capture of a
whale. Being ashore one day with our pilot, we met a native woman whom he recognized as a
former acquaintance, and on remarking to her that she had picked up in flesh since he last saw
her, she replied that she had been living on whale all the winter, which explained her plumpness.
It must not be supposed, however, that the whale, seal, and walrus constitute the entire food
supply of the Arctic. There is scarcely any more toothsome delicacy than reindeer, the tongue of
which is very dainty and succulent. . There is one peculiarity about its flesh—in order to have it
in perfection it must be eaten very soon after being killed; the sooner the better, for it deteriorates
in flavor the longer it is kept. Indeed, the Eskimo do not wait for the animal heat to leave the
careass, as they eat the brains and paunch hot and smoking.
While our gastronomic enthusiasm did not extend this far, we dined occasionally on fresh
trout from a Siberian mountain lake, young wild ducks as fat as squabs, and reindeer, any of
which delicacies could not be had in the same perfection at Delmonico’s or any similar establish-
ment in New York for love or money. There is scarcely any better eating in the way of fish than
coregonus—a new species discovered at Point Barrow by the Corwin-—and certainly no more dainty
game exists than the young wild geese and ptarmigan to be found in countless numbers in
Hotham Inlet. At the latter place, doubtless the warmest inside the Straits, are found quantities
of cranberries about the size of a pea, which not only make a delicious accessory to roasted goose,
H. Ex. 105——5
34 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN.
but act as a valuable antiscorbutic. These berries, and a kind of kelp, which I have seen Eskimo
eating at Tapkan, Siberia, seem to be the only vegetable food they have. The large quantities
of eggs easily procurable, but in most cases doubtful, also constitute a standard article of diet
among these people, who have no scruples about eating them partly hatched. They seemed never
to comprehend our fastidiousness in the matter and why our tastes differed so much from theirs
in this respect. They will break an egg containing an embryonic duck or goose, extract the bird
by one leg and devour it with all the relish of an epicure, Gull’s eggs, however, are in disrepute
among them, for the women—who, by the way, have the same frailties and weakness as their more
civilized sisters—believe that eating gulls’ eggs causes loss of beauty and brings on early decrepi-
tude. The men, on the other hand, are fond of seal eyes, a tid-bit which the women believe
increases their amorousness, and feed to their lords after the manner of ‘Open your mouth and
shut your eyes.”
Game is as a rule very tame, and during the moulting season, when the geese are unable to
fly, it is quite possible to kill them with a stick. At one place, Cape Thompson, Eskimo were seen
catching birds from a high cliff with a kind of scoop-net, and I saw birds at Herald Island refuse
to move when pelted with stones, so unaccustomed were they to the presence of man. In addi-
tion to being very tame, gameis plentiful, and not an uncommon sight, off the Siberian coast, were
flocks of eider-ducks darkening the air and occupying several hours in passing overhead. It was
novel sport to see the natives throw a projectile known as an “‘apluketat” into one of these
flocks with astonishing range and accuracy, bringing down the game with the effectiveness of a
shotgun.
Game keeps so well in the Arctic that an instance is known of its being perfectly sweet and
sound on an English ship after two years’ keeping, and whalemen kill a number of pigs, which
they hang in the rigging and keep for use during the cruise. It is also noticeable that leather
articles do not mildew as they generally do at sea, some shoes kept in a locker on board the
Corwin having retained their polish during the entire cruise.
The food of the Eskimo satisfies their instinctive craving for a hydrocarbon, but they do not
allow themselves to be much disturbed or distracted in its preparation, as most of it is eaten raw.
They occasionally boil their food, however, and some of them have learned the use of flour and
molasses, of which they are very fond.
Their aversion to salt is a very marked peculiarity, and they will not eat either corned beef or
pork on this account. It may be that physiological reasons exist for this dislike.
SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC RELATIONS.
Omitting other ethnographic facts relative to the Eskimo, which might be treated in a system-
atic way except for their triteness, we pass from the means of the renewal of the animal economy
to its reproduction. Courtship and marriage, which, it is said, are conducted in the most unsenti-
mental manner possible, are for that reason not to be discussed; and for obvious reasons many of
the prenatal conditions cannot here be dwelt upon. Having never witnessed the act of parturition
in an Eskimo my knowledge of the subject is merely second-hand, and consequently not worth
detailing. It appears, though, that parturition is a function easily performed among them, and
that it is unattended by the post-partem accidents common to civilization. As a rule the women
are unprolific,it being uncommon to find a family numbering over three childrén, and the mortality
among the new born is excessive,'owing to the ignorance and neglect of the ordinary rules of hygiene.
They seem, however, to be kind to their children, who in respect to crying do not show the same
peevishness as seen in our nurseries; indeed, the social and demonstrative good nature of the race
seems to crop out even in babyhood, as | have often witnessed under such circumstances as a baby
enveloped in furs in a skin canoe which lay along side the ship during a snow storm; its tiny
hands protruding held a piece of blubber, which it sucked with apparent relish, the unique picture
of happy contentment. It was quick to feel itself an object of attraction, and its chubby face
returned any number of smiles of recognition.
The manner of carrying the infant is contrary to that of civilized custom. It is borne on the
back under the clothes of the mother, which form a pouch, and from which its tiny head is gen-
erally visible over one or the other shoulder, but on being observed by strangers it shrinks like a
ase . a 3 es
| . | . = a ‘€
in Fat Dy oa 7 7
S. Ae :
¢ Ye
: :
7
=e
e
>
te
¥ vir
‘A a eet
CRORE OF VEG MAR NURWIN DN THE ARCTIO OCEAN. Gi
pail or a maraepiny hale AR Re a erat, When the mother wants to rewore it she bende torwmoa,
WE | at the saane hunk pid, Vara dee buna ay the back wider ber garments, and seizing the hae %%
Pe i) ble fect, pormlliy 8 ielayeninnane llth Way De 5 vam, passing the right hand wader the front of tye divas
We phe again webing Wim tik wed wietinpoks it bya Kind of pedalie delivery. Avother commen way of
Bd | | RaRy ig ebuilebueee “ave ome eles ih ne cniest is Cae that the Chuchehii artist often carved i
a ivory.
A ah Phe jit say wstasitings on weg lt einen V heetehes sith is veriona wes, They have sack
0 iawn whjoete cg, Tayi, mianigitone: Kreis, Bhs have soon a wong of boys, sailing toy boats in 4
Bey pond, ean. wwdler: tibet clare mnissdiivcaitss eet ian a what bor gion bas Heer Gheervedl to do at Proviges-
ie Hew, iyi | ive, wk’ the same Wel, ar peeked in the Boog Pat orf the Bown Common, may be
Vi gi Rew te Aifinrearviatent fom pi the biope tandeney. Their delta, of ivery snd clethed with fur,
apr tee cuyorwgnn hes Paes Pp TLEDN REY that Uhow do in civitiaed: Comminitive— namely, the amusenent
dower atone place where we landed a uauber of Eskimo girls, stopping play on oar
jie dota wp in a row, evidently with a view,to give the dolis a better look at the
| Apaning tops, essentially Mekimo and unique in their character, are held in the
apionmng 5 on tlie Siberian Coast fvot ball is played, and among other questionable
| iin from contact with the whalemen, a knowledge of card playing exists. We were
wiked for cards, and at one place where we stopped and bartered a naiwher of smi”
‘the natives they gave evidence of theix aptitude at gaming. The game being sientin,
® bartered articles as stakes, one fellow soon scooped in everything, leaving (ie ethers to
off dead broke amid the ridicule of some of our crew, and doubtless feeling wwrw than dens,
ir pe no Cate that. d mate seen, not even the French, does ridienie so. eiteotualiy Kill.
t
ig Ae Tears “PERSONAL ORNAMENTATION.
7 he mane an hy he pr pon yen mani no ating
viet: ot erg bun eauN The custom of tattooing ons pare
la
CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 35
snail or a marsupian into its snug retreat. When the mother wants to remove it she bends forward,
at the same time passing her left hand up the back under her garments, and seizing the child by
the feet, pulls it downward to the left; then, passing the right hand under the front of the dress,
she again seizes the feet and extracts it by a kind of pedalic delivery. Another common way of
carrying children is astride the neck. The subject is one that the Chuckchii artist often carves in
ivory.
The play-impulse manifests itself among these people in various ways. They have such
mimetic objects as dolls, miniature boats, &c. Ihave seen a group of boys, sailing toy boats in a
pond, behave under the circumstances just as a similar group has been observed to do at Province-
town, Cape Cod, and the same act, as performed in the Frog Pond of the Boston Common, may be
called only a differentiated form of the same tendency. Their dolls, of ivory and clothed with fur,
seem to answer the same purpose that they do in civilized communities—namely, the amusement
of little girls—for at one place where we landed a nuinber of Eskimo girls, stopping play on our
approach, sat their dolls up in a row, evidently with a view to give the dolls a better look at the
strange visitors. Spinning tops, essentially Eskimo and unique in their character, are held in the
hand while spinning; on the Siberian Coast foot ball is played, and among other questionable
things acquired from contact with the whalemen, a knowledge of card playing exists. We were
very often asked for cards, and at one place where we stopped and bartered a nuinber of small
articles with the natives they gave evidence of their aptitude at gaming. The game being started,
with the bartered articles as stakes, one fellow soon scooped in everything, leaving the others to
go off dead broke amid the ridicule of some of our crew, and doubtless feeling worse than dead,
for among no people that I have seen, not even the French, does ridicule so effectually kill.
PERSONAL ORNAMENTATION.
Among the means taken by these people to produce personal ornamentation that of tattooing
the face and wearing a labret is the most noticeable. The custom of tattooing having existed from
the earliest historical epochs is important not only from an ethnological but from a medical and
pathological point of view, and even in its relation to medical jurisprudence in cases of contested
personal identity.
Without going into the history of the subject, it may not be irrelevant to mention that
tattooing was condemned by the Fathers of the Church, Tertullian among others, who gives the
following rather singular reason for interdicting its use among women: “Certi sumus Spiritum
Sanctum magis masculis tale aliquid subscribere potuisse si feminis subscripsisset.”*
In addition to much that has been written by French and German writers, the matter of tattoo-
marks has of late claimed the attention of the law courts of England, the chief-justice, Cockburn,
in the Tichbourne case, having described this species of evidence as of “ vital importance,” and in
itself final and conclusive. The absence of the tattoo-marks in this case justified the jury in their
finding that the defendant was not and could not be Roger Tichbourne, whereupon the alleged
claimant was proved to be an impostor, found guilty of perjury, and sentenced to penal servitude. t
The accompanying representations, showing extensive markings on different parts of the body,
are from photographs obtained in Japan.
Why the ancient habit of tattooing should prevail so extensively among some of the primitive
tribes as it does, for instance, in the Polynesian Islands and some parts of Japan, and we may
Say as a Peis of a superstitious practice of paganism among sailors and others, is a psycho-
logical problem difficult to solve. Whether it be owing to perversion of the sexual instinct, which
is not unlikely, or to other cause, it is not proposed to discuss. Be that as it may, the prevalence
of the habit among the Eskimo is confined to the female sex, who are tatooed on arriving at the
age of puberty. The women of Saint Lawrence Island, in addition to lines on the nose, forehead,
and chin, have uniformly a figure of strange design on the cheeks, which is suggestive of cabalistic
import. It could not be ascertained, however, whether such was the case. The lines drawn
on the chin were exactly like the ones I have seen on Moorish women in Morocco. Another
-*De Virginibus velandis. Lutetiz Parisiorum, 1675f°., p. 178.
t+ See Guy’s Hospital Report, XIX, 1874; also (Histoire Médicale du eae »? in Archives de Médecine Navale,
Tom. 11 et 12, Paris, 1869.
36 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEKAN.
outlandish attempt at adornment was witnessed at Cape Blossom in a woman who wore a
bunch of colored beads suspended from the septum of her nose. These habits, however, hardly
seem so revolting as the use of the labret by the ‘“‘Mazinka” men on the American coast, of
Style of personal ornamentation adopted by the women of Saint Lawrence Island.
whom it is related that a sailor seeing one of them for the first time, and observing the slit in the
lower lip through which the native thrust his tongue, thought he had discovered a man with two
mouths. The use of the labret, like many of the attempts at primitive ornamentation, is very
old, it having been traced by Dall along the American Coast from the lower part of Chili to
Alaska. Persons fond of tracing vestiges of savage ornamentation amid intellectual advancement
and esthetic sensibility far in advance of the primitive man, may observe in the wearers of
bangles and ear-rings the same tendency existing in a differentiated form.
DIVERSIONS. -
I doubt whether Shakespeare’s dictum in regard to music holds good when applied to the
Eskimo, for they have but little music in their souls, and among no people is there such a notice-
able absence of ‘ treason, stratagem, and spoil.” A rude drum and a monotonous chant consisting
only of the fundamental note and minor third, are the only things in the way of music among the
more remote settlements of which I have any knowledge. Mrs. Micawber’s singing has been
described as the table-beer of acoustics. Eskimo singing is something more. The beer has become
flat by the addition of ice. One of our engineers, who is quite a fiddler, experimented on his
instrument with a view to see what effect music would have on the “savage breast,” but his
best efforts at rendering Madame Angot and the Grande Duchesse were wasted before an unsym-
pathetic audience, who showed as little appreciation of his performance as some people do when
listening to Wagner’s “ Music of the Future.”
Where they have come in contact with civilization, their musical taste is more developed. At
Saint Michael’s I was told that some of their songs are so characteristic that it is much to be
regretted that some of them cannot,be bottled up in a phonograph and sent to a musical composer.
CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN, ot
On the coast of Siberia I heard an Eskimo boy sing correctly a song he had learned while on board
a whaling vessel, and on several of the Aleutian Islands the natives play the accordion quite well,
have music-boxes, and even whistle strains from Pinafore.
From music to dancing the transition is obvious, no matter whether the latter be regarded in
a Darwinian sense as a device to attract the opposite sex or as the expression of joyous excitement.
This manifestation of feeling in its bodily discharge, which Moses and Miriam and David indulged
in, Which is ranked with poetry by Aristotle, and which old Homer says is the sweetest and most
perfect of human enjoyments, is a pastime much in vogue among the Eskimo, and it required but
little provocation to start a dance at any time on the Corwin’s decks when a party happened to be
on board. Their dancing, however, had not the cadence of ‘‘a wave of the sea,” nor was there the
harmony of double rotation circling in a series of graceful curves to strains like those of Strauss
or Gungl. On the contrary, there was something saltatorial and jerky about all the dancing I saw both
among the men and women. It is the custom at some of their gatherings, after the hunting season
is over, for the men to indulge in a kind of terpsichorean performance, at the same time relating
in Homeric style the heroic deeds they have done. At other times the women, more décolleté
than our beauties at the German, for they strip to the waist, do all the dancing, and the men take
the part of spectators only in this choregraphical performance.
ART INSTINCT.
The aptitude shown by Eskimo in carving and drawing has been noticed by all travellers among
them. Some I have met with show a degree of intelligence and appreciation in regard to charts
and pictures scarcely to be expected from such a source. From walrusivory they sculpture figures
of birds, quadrupeds, marine animals, and even the human form, which display considerable indi-
viduality notwithstanding their crude delineation and imperfect detail. I have also seen a fair
carving of a whale in plumbago. Evidences of decoration are sometimes seen on their canoes, on
which are found rude pictures of walruses, &¢., and they have a kind of picture-writing by means
of which they commemorate certain events in their lives, just as Sitting Bull has done in an auto-
biography that may be seenat the Army Medical Museum.
When we were searching for the missing whalers off the Siberian Coast some natives were come
across with whom we were unable to communicate except by signs, and wishing to let them know
the object of our visit, a ship was drawn in a note-book and shown to them with accompanying
gesticulations, which ee quickly comprehended, and one fellow, taking the pencil and note-book,
drew correctly a pair of reindeer horns on the ship’s jib-boom—a fact which identified beyond doubt
the derelict vessel they had seen. At Point Hope an Eskimo, who had allowed us to take sketches
of him, desired to sketch one of the party, and taking one of our note-books and a pencil, neither
of which he ever had in his hand before, produced the accompanying likeness of Professor Muir:
At Saint Michael’s there is an Eskimo boy who draws remarkably well, having
taught himself hy copying from the Illustrated London News. He made a correct
pen-and-ink drawing of the Corwin, and another of the group of buildings at Saint
Michael’s, which, though creditable in many respects, had the defect of many Chinese
_ pictures, being faulty in perspective. As these drawings equal those in Dr. Rink’s
book, done by Greenland artists, I regret my inability to reproduce them here.
As evidences of culture they show more advancement than the carvings of English
rustics that a clergyman has caused to be placed on exhibition at the Kensington
Museum.
Sir John Ross speaks highly of his interpreter as an artist; Beechy says that
the knowledge of the coast obtained by him from Innuit maps was of the peat value, while Hall
and others show their geographical knowledge to be as perfect as that possible of attainment by
civilized men unaided by instruments. I had frequent opportunities to observe these Eskimo ideas
of chartography. They not only understood reading a chart of the coast when showed to them, but
would make tracings of the unexplored part, as I knew a native to do in the case of an Alaskan river,
the mouth only of which was laid down on our chart.
Manifestation of the plastic art, which is found among tribes less intelligent, is rare among the
38 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN.
Eskimo. In fact, the only thing of the kind seen was some rude pottery at Saint Lawrence Island,
the design of which showed but crude development of ornamental ideas. The same state of
advancement was shown in some drinking cups carved from mammoth ivory and a dipper made
from the horn of a mountain sheep.
COMBATIVENESS.
In one of the acts of Shakespeare’s Seven Ages the Eskimo plays a very unimportant rdéle.
Perhaps in no other race is the combative instinct less predominant; in none is quarreling, fierce-
ness of disposition, and jealousy more conspicuously absent, and in none does the desire for the
factitious renown of war exist in a more rudimentary and undeveloped state. Perhaps the
constant fight with cold and hunger is a compensation which must account for the absence of
such unmitigated evils as war, taxes, complex social organization, ind hierarchy among the
curious people of the icy north. The pursuits of peace and of simple patriarchal lives, notwith-
standing the fact that much in connection therewith is wretched and forbidding to a civilized
man, seem to beget in these people a degree of domesti¢ tranquillity and contentment which,
united to their light-hearted and cheery disposition, is an additional reason for believing the sum
of human happiness to be constant throughout the world.
MENTAL CHARACTER AND CAPACITY.
The intellectual character of the Eskimo, judging from the information which various travellers
have furnished, as well as my personal knowledge, produces more than a feeble belief in the
possibility of their being equal to anything they choose to take an interest in learning. The Eskimo
is not “‘muffled imbecility,” as some one has called him, nor is he dull and slow of understanding,
as Vitruvius describes the northern nation to be ‘from breathing a thick air”—which, by the
way, is thin, elastic, and highly ozonized—nor is he, according to Dr. Beke, ‘‘degenerated almost
to the lowest state compatible with the retention of rational endowments.” On the contrary, the
old Greenland missionary, Hans Egede, writes: ‘‘I have found some of them witty enough and of
good capacity ;” Sir Martin Frobisher says they are ‘in nature very subtle and sharp-witted ;”
Sir Edward Parry, while extolling their honesty and good nature, adds, ‘‘ Indeed, it required no
long acquaintance to convince us that art and education might easily have made them equal or
superior to ourselves ;” Sauer tells of a woman who learned to speak Russian fluently in rather
less than twelve months, and Beechy and others have acknowledged the intelligent help they
have received from Eskimo in making their explorations.
Before going further, it may not be amiss to speak in a general way of the bony covering which
protects the organ whose function it is to generate the vibrations known as thought. Of one
hundred crania, collected principally at Saint Lawrence Island, a number were examined by me at
the Army Medical Museum, through the courtesy of Dr. Huntington, with the result of changing
and greatly modifying some of the previous notions of the conventional Eskimo skull as acquired
trom books on craniology. Perhaps after the inspection and examination of a large collection of
crania it may be safe to pronounce upon their differential character; but whether the differences in
configuration are constant or only occasional manifestations admits of as much doubt as the
exceptions in Professor Sophocles’s Greek grammar, which are often coextensive with the rule.*
The typical Eskimo skull, according to popular notion, is one exhibiting a low order of intelli-
gence, and characterized by small brain capacity, with great prominence of the superciliary ridges,
occipital protuberance, and zygomatic arches, the latter projecting beyond the general contour of
the skull like the handles of ‘a jar or a peach basket; and lines drawn from the most projecting
part of the arches and touching the sides of the frontal bone are supposed to meet over the forehead,
forming a triangle, for which reason the skull is known as pyramidal.
The first specimen, examined from a vertical view, shows something of the typical character
as figured in A, and when viewed posteriorly there is noticed a flattening of the parietal walls with
an elongated vertex as shown in D; while a second specimen, represented by B, shows none of the
foregoing characteristics, the form being elongated and the parietal walls so far overhanging as to
conceal the zygomatic arches in the vertical view, so that if lines be drawn as previously men-
*See Retzius, Finska Kranier, Stockholm: 1878.
CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 39
tioned, instead of forming a triangle they may, like the asymptotes of a parabola, be extended to
infinity and never meet:
For purposes of comparison a number of orthographic outlines, showing the contour of civil-
ized crania from a vertical point of observation, are herewith annexed. No.1 is that of an eminent
mathematician who committed suicide; No. 2, a prominent politician during the civil war; No. 3,
a banker; and No. 4, a notorious assassin. Nos. 5 and 6 are negro skulls. Further comparison
may be made with the Jewish skuil, as represented in No. 7, in which the nasal bones project so
far beyond the general contour as to ferm a bird-like appendage:
A collection of Aleutian heads, as seen from a vertical point of observation, when I looked
down from the gallery of the little Greek church at Ounalaska, presented at first sight certain
collective characters by which they approach one another. But anatomists know that a careful
comparison of any collection will show extremely salient differences. In fact, individual differ-
ences, SO numerous and so irregular as to prevent methodical enumeration, constitute the stumbling-
block of ethnic craniology. Take, for instance, a number of the skulls under consideration: in
proportions they will be found to present very considerable variations among themselves. The
skulls figured by A and B are respectively brachycephalie and dolichocephalic. The former has
an internal capacity of 1,400, the latter 1,214 cubie centimeters; but the facial angle of each is 809,
and in one Eskimo cranium it runs up to 84°. If the facial angle be trustworthy, as a measure of
the degree of intelligence, we have shown here a development far in excess of the negro, which is
placed at 70°, or of the Mongolian at 75°, and exceeding that observed by me in many German
40 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE AROTIC OCHKAN.
skulls, which do not as a rule come up to the 90° of Jupiter Tonans or of Cuvier, in spite of the
boasted intelligence of that nationality.
oN at nite AE
\
JVo.Z.
f
Nova:
In none of the skulls of the collection is there observable the heavy superciliary ridges alleged
to be common in lower races, but which exist in many of the best-formed European crania—shall
we. Say aS anomalies or as individual variations? Nor is the convexity of the squamo-parietal
suture such as characterizes the low-typed cranium of the chimpanzee or of the Mound Builder.
On the contrary, the orbits are cleanly made and the suture is well curved. Besides, a low degree
of intelligence is not shown by observing the index of the foramen magnum, which is about the
same as that found in European crania; and the same may be said of the internal capacity of the
cranium. ‘To illustrate the latter remark is appended a tabular statement made up from Welcker,
Broca, Aitken, and Meigs:
Cubic centimeters.
Australian: «225. asad cea ts SESE See ee ee ar 1, 228
‘Polymesian yi 32 oo 5 2s ee oe eo ee ee 1, 230
Hottentop ye. 232+ 2. 2 oe ee ee ee 1, 230
Mexicana = 26 oie ob i ce bes ee ee eee 1, 296
Malaya 4
Oe ey wnt aks ir Ci, "ely fh
: ie at t fin st i PEE oy, fi oy
r - J 1 : URES ; Fas a 3 ray} cae a
BOTANICAL NOTES ON ALASKA.
BY
JOHN MOUTR.
Be AN PO Ak NOTES.
By JoHN MUIR.
INTRODUCTORY.
The plants named in the following notes were collected at many localities on the coasts of
Alaska and Siberia, and on Saint Lawrence, Wrangel, and Herald Islands, between about latitude
54° and 71°, longitude 161° and 1789, in the course of short excursions, some of them less than an
hour in length.
Inasmuch as the flora of the arctic and subarctic regions is nearly the same everywhere, the
discovery of many species new to science was not to be expected. The collection, however, will
no doubt be valuable for comparison with the plants of other regions.
In general the physiognomy of the vegetation of the polar regions resembles that of the alpine
valleys of the temperate zones; so much so that the botanist on the coast of Artic Siberia or
America might readily fancy himself on the Sierra Nevada at a height of 10,000 to 12,000 feet
above the sea.
There is no line of perpetual snow on any portion of the arctic regions known to explorers.
The snow disappears every summer not only from the low sandy shores and boggy tundras but
also from the tops of the mountains and all the upper slopes and valleys with the exception of
small patches of drifts and avalanche-heaps hardly noticeable in general views. But though
nowhere excessively deep or permanent, the snow-mantle is universal during winter, and the
plants are solidly frozen and buried for nearly three-fourths of the year. In this condition they
enjoy a sleep and rest about as profound as death, from which they awake in the months of June and
July in vigorous health, and speedily reach a far higher development of leaf and flower and fruit
than is generally supposed. On the drier banks and hills about Kotzebue Sound, Cape Thompson,
and Cape Lisbourne many species show but little climatic repression, and during the long summer
days grow tall enough to wave in the wind, and unfold flowers in as rich profusion and as highly
colored as may be found in regions lying a thousand miles farther south.
OUNALASKA.
To the botanist approaching any portion of the Aleutian chain of islands from the southward
during the winter or spring months, the view is severely desolate and forbidding. The snow comes
down to the water’s edge in solid white, interrupted only by dark outstanding bluffs with faces too
steep for snow to lie on, and by the backs of rounded rocks and long rugged reefs beaten and
overswept by heavy breakers rolling in from the Pacitic, while throughout nearly every month
of the year the higher mountains are wrapped in gloomy dripping storm-clouds.
Nevertheless vegetation here is remarkably close and luxuriant, and crowded with showy
bloom, covering almost every foot of the ground up to a height of about a thousand feet above
the sea—the harsh trachytic rocks, and even the cindery bases of the craters, as well as the
moraines and rough soil beds outspread on the low portions of the short narrow valleys.
On the 20th of May we found the showy Geum glaciale already in flower, also an arctostaphylos
and draba, on a slope facing the south, near the harbor of Ounalaska. The willows, too, were then
beginning to put forth their catkins, while a multitude of green points Were springing up in
Sheltered spots wherever the snow had vanished. At a height of 400 and 500 feet, however,
winter was still unbroken, with scarce a memory of the rich bloom of summer.
47
48 ORUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN.
During a few short excursions along the shores of Ounalaska Harbor and on two of the adjacent
mountains, towards the end of May and beginning of October we saw about fifty species of flowering
plants—empetrum,vaccinium, bryanthus, pyrola, arctostaphylos, ledum, cassiope, lupinus, zeranium,
epilobium, silene, draba, and saxifraga being the most telling and characteristic of the genera
represented. Hmpetrum nigrum, a bryanthus, and three species of vaccinium make a grand display
when in flower and show their massed colors at a considerable distance.
Almost the entire surface of the valleys and hills and lower slopes of the mountains is covered
with a dense spongy plush of lichens and mosses similar to that which cover the tundras of the
Arctic regions, making a rich green mantle on which the showy flowering plants are strikingly
relieved, though these grow far more luxuriantly on the banks of the streams where the drainage
8 less interrupted. Here also the ferns, of which I saw three species, are taller and more abundant,
some of them arching their broad delicate fronds over one’s shoulders, while in similar situations
the tallest of the five grasses that were seen reaches a height of nearly six feet, and forms a growth
close enough for the farmer’s scythe.
Not asingle tree has yet been seen on any of the islands of the chain west of Kodiak, excepting
a few spruces brought from Sitka and planted at Ounalaska by the Russians about fifty years ago.
They are still alive ina dwarfed condition, having made scarce any appreciable growth since they
were planted. These facts are the more remarkable, since in Southeastern Alaska lying both to
the north and south of here, and on the many islands of the Aexander Archipelago, as well as on
the mainland, forests of beautiful conifers flourish exuberantly and attain noble dimensions, while
the climatic conditions generally do not appear to differ greatly from those that obtain on these
treeless islands.
Wherever cattle have been introduced they have prospered and grown fat on the abundance
of rich nutritious pasturage to be found almost everywhere in the deep withdrawing valleys and
on the green slopes of the hills and mountains, but the wetness of the summer months will always
prevent the making of hay in any cousiderable quantities.
The agricultural possibilities of these islands seem also to be very limited. The hardier of the
cereals—rye, barley, and oats—make a good vigorous growth, and head out, but seldom or never
mature, on account of insufficient sunshine and overabundance of moisture in the form of long-
continued drizzling fogs and rains. Green crops, however, as potatoes, turnips, cabbages, beets,
and most other common garden vegetables, thrive wherever the ground is thoroughly drained and
has a southerly exposure.
SAINT LAWRENCE ISLAND.
Saint Lawrence Island, as far as our observations extended, is mostly a dreary mass of granite
and lava of various forms and colors, roughened with voleanic cones, covered with snow, and rigidly
bound in ocean ice for half the year.
Inasmuch as it lies broadsidewise to the direction pursued by the great ice-sheet that recently
filled Bering Sea, and its rocks offered unequal resistance to the denuding action of the ice, the
island is traversed by numerous ridges and low gap-like valleys all trending in the same general
direction, some of the lowest of these transverse valleys having been degraded nearly to the level
of the sea, showing that had the glaciation to which the island has been subjected been slightly
greater we should have found several islands here instead of one.
At the time of our first visit, May 28, winter still had full possession, but eleven days later we
found the dwarf willows, drabas, crizerons, saxifrages pushing wp their buds and leaves, on spots
bare of snow, with wonderful rapidity. This was the beginning of spring at the northwest end of
the island. On July 4 the flora seemed to have reached its highest development. The bottoms of
the glacial valleys were in many places covered with tall grasses and carices evenly planted and
forming meadows of considerable size, while the drier portions and the sloping grounds about —
them were enlivened with gay highly-colored flowers from an inch to nearly two feet in height—
Aconitum Napellus, L. var. delphinifolium ser. Polemonium ceruleum, L. Papaver nudicaule, Draba
alpina, and Silene acaulis in large closely flowered tufts, Andromeda, Ledum Linnea, Cassiope,
and several species of Vaccinium and Saxifraga.
CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. . 49
SAINT MICHAEL’ S.
The region about Saint Michael’s is a magnificent tundra, crowded with Arctic lichens and
mosses, which here develop under most favorable conditions. In the spongy plush formed by the
lower plants, in which one sinks almost knee-deep at every step, there is a sparse growth of
grasses, carices, and rushes, tall enough to wave in the wind, while empetrum, the dwarf birch,
and the various heathworts flourish here in all their beauty of bright leaves and flowers. The
moss mantle for the most part rests on a stratum of ice that never melts to any great extent, and
the ice on a bed rock of black vesicular lava. Ridges of the lava rise here and there above the
general level in rough masses, affording ground for plants that like a drier soil. Numerous
hollows and watercourses also occur on the general tundra, whose well-drained banks are decked
with gay flowers in lavish abundance, and meadow patches of grasses shoulder high, suggestive
of regions much farther south.
The following plants and a few doubtful species not yet determined were collected here :
Linnea borealis, Gronov. Oxytropis podocarpa, Gray.
Cassiope tetragone, Desv. Astragalus alpinus, 1.
Andromeda polifolia, L. frigidus, Gray, var. littoralis.
Loiseleuria procumbeus, Desv. Lathyrus maritimus, Bigelow.
Vaccinium Vitis Idea, L. Arenaria lateriflora, VW.
Arctostaphylos alpina, Spring. Stellaria longipes, Goldie.
Ledum palustre, L. Silene acaulis, L.
Nardosmia frigida, Hook. Savifraga nivalis, L.
Saussurea alpina, D1. hieracifolia, W. and K.
Senecio frigidus, Less. Anemone narcissiflora, L.
palustris, Hook. parviflora, Michx.
Arnica angustifolia, Vahl. Caltha palustris, L., var. asarifolia, Rothr.
Artemisia arctica, Bess. Valeriana capitata, Willd.
Matricaria inodora, L. Lloydia serotina, Reichmb.
Rubus chame morus, L. Tofieldia coccinea, Richards.
articus, L. Armeria vulgaris, Willd.
Potentilla nivea, L. Corydalis pauciflora.
Dryas octopetala, L. Pinguicula Villosa, L.
Draba alpina, L. Mertensia paniculata, Desv.
incana, L. Polygonum alpinum, All.
Entrema arenicola, Hook? Epilobium latifoium, L.
Pedicularis sudetica, Willd. Betula nana, L.
euphrasioides, Steph. Alnus viridis, D1.
Langsdor fii, Fisch, var. lanata, Gray. Eriophorum capitatum.
Diapensia Lapponica, L. Carex vulgaris, Willd, var. alpina.
Polemoiwm ceeruleum, L. Aspidium fragrans, Swartz.
Primula borealis, Daly. Woodsia Iloensis, By.
G/ OIE OVEN "BAYS,
The tundra flora on the west side of Golovin Bay is remarkably close and luxuriant, covering
almost every foot of the ground, the hills as well as the valleys, while the sandy beach and a
bank of coarsely stratified moraine material a few yards back from the beach were blooming like
a garden with Lathyrus maritimus, Iris sibirica, Polemonium ceruleum, &c., diversified with clumps
and patches of Hlymus arenarius, Alnus viridis, and Abies alba.
This is one of the few points on the east side of Bering Sea where trees closely approach the
shore. The white spruce occurs here in small groves or thickets of well developed erect trees 15
or 20 feet high, near the level of the sea, at a distance of about 6 or 8 miles from the mouth of the
bay, and gradually become irregular and dwarfed as they approach the shore. Here a number of
dead and dying specimens were observed, indicating that conditions of soil, clima‘e, and relations
to other plants were becoming more unfavorable, and causing the tree-line to ‘ecede from the
coast. :
H, Ex, 105——7
50 e¢ CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN.
The following collection was made here July 10:
Pinguicula villosa, Tu. Lloydia serotina, Reichemh.
Vaccinium vitis Idea, L. Chrysanthemum arcticum, L.
Spirexa betulefolia, Pallas. Artemisia Tilesti, Ledeb.
Rubus arcticus, L. Arenaria peploides, L.
Epilobium latifolium, L. Gentiana glanca, Pallas.
Polemonium ceevuleum, L. Elymus arenarius, L.
Trientalis europxa, L. var. arctica, Ledeb. Poa trivialis, L.
Entrema arenicola, Hook. Carex vesicaria, L. var, alpigma, Fries.
fris sibiriea, L. Aspidium spinulosum, Sw. e
KOTZEBUE SOUND.
The flora of the region about the head of Kotzebue Sound is hardly less luxuriant and rich in
species than that of other points visited by the Corwin lying several degrees farther south. Fine
nutritious grasses suitable for the fattening of cattle and from 2 to 6 feet high are not of rare
occurrence on meadows of considerable extent and along streambanks wherever the stagnant
waters of the tundra have been drained off, while in similar localities the most showy of the Arctic
plants bloom in all their freshness and beauty, manifesting no sign of frost, or unfavorable condi-
tions of any kind whatever.
A striking result of the airing and draining of the boggy tundra soil is shown on the ice-bluffs
around Escholtze Bay, where it has been undermined by the melting of the ice on which it rests.
In falling down the face of the ice-wall it is well skaken and rolled before it again comes to rest on
terraced or gently sloping portions of the wall. The original vegetation of the tundra is thus
destroyed, and tall grasses spring up on the fresh mellow ground as it accumulates from time to
time, growing lush and rank, though in many places that we noted these new soil-beds are not
more than a foot in depth, and lie on the solid ice.
At the time of our last visit to this interesting region, about the middle of September, the
weather was still fine, suggesting the Indian Summer of the Western States. The tundra glowed
in the mellow sunshine with the colors of the ripe foliage of vaccinium, empetrum, arctostaphylos,
and dwarf birch; red, purple, and yellow, in pure bright tones, while the berries, hardly less
beautiful, were scattered everywhere as if they had been sown broadcast with a lavish hand, the
whole blending harmoniously with the neutral tints of the furred bed of lichens and mosses on
which the bright leaves and berries were painted.
On several points about the sound the white spruce occurs in small compact groves within a few
miles of the shore; and pyrola, which belongs to wooded regions, is abundant where no trees are
now in sight, tending to show that areas of considerable extent, now treeless, were once forested.
The plants collected are:
Pyrola rotundifolia, L. var. pumila, Hook. Savifraga tricuspidata, Retg.
Arctostaphylos alpina, Spring. Trientalis europea, L. var. artica, Ledeb.
Cassiope tetragone, Desr. Lupinus articus, Watson,
Ledum palustre. Hedysarum boreale, Nutt.
Vaccinium Vitis Idea, L. Galium boreale, L.
UDliginosum, L. var. mucronata, Hender. Armeria vulgaris, Willd, var. Arctica, Cham.
Empetrum nigrwn. Allium schenoprasum, L.
Potentilla, anserina, L. var. Polygonum Viviparum, L.
biflora, Willd. Castilleia pallida, Kunth.
Sruticosa. Pedicularis sudetica, Willd.
biellaria longipes, Goldie. verticillata, L.
Cerastium alpinum, L. var. Behringianum. Regel. Senecio palustris, Hook.
Mertensia maritima, Derr. Salix polaris, Wahl.
Papaver nudicale, L. Luzula hyperborea, R. Br.
CAPE THOMPSON.
The Cape Thompson flora is richer in species and individuals than that of any other point on
the Arctic shores we have seen, owing no doubt mainly to the better drainage of the ground
through the fissured frost-cracked limestone, which hereabouts is the principal rock. |
Where the hill-slopes are steepest the rock frequently occurs in loose angular masses and is
CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCKAN. Al
entirely bare of soil. But between these barren slopes there are valleys where the showiest of the
Arctic plants bloom in rich profusion and variety, forming brilliant masses of color—purple, yellow,
and blue—where certain species form beds of considerable size, almost to the exclusion of others.
The following list was obtained here July 19:
Phlox Sibirica, 1. Potentilla biflora, Willd.
Polemonium humile. Willd. nivea, L.
coeruleum, L. Draba stellata, Jacq. vax. nivalis, Regel.
Myosotis sylvatica, var. alpestris. ineana, I.
Eritrichium nanum, var. arctioides, Hedu. Cardamine pratensis, L. ?
Dodecatheon media, var. frigidum, Gray. Cheiranthus pygmxus, Adans.
Androsace chamejasme, Willd. Parrya nudicaulis, Regel. var. aspera, Regel.
Anemone narcissiflora, L. Hedysarum borealis, Nutt.
multifida, Poir. Oxytropis podocarpa, Gray.
parviflora, Michx. Cerastium alpinum, L. var. Behringianwn, Regel.
parviflora, Michx. var. Silene acaulis, L.
Ranunculus affinis, R, Br. Arenaria verna, Li. var. rubella, Hook, f.
Caltha aserifolia, DI. Arctica, Ster.
Geum glaciale, Fisch. Stellaria longipes, Goldie.
Dryas octopetala, L. Artemisia tomentosa.
Polygonum Bistorta, L. Pedicularis capitata, Adans.
Rumex Crispus, L. Papaver nudicaule, L.
Boykinia Richardsonii, Gray. Epilobium latifolium, 1.
Saxifraga tricuspidata, Retg. Cassiope tetragone, Desv.
cernua, L. Vaccinium uliginosum, L. var. Mucronata, Hender.
flagellaris, Willd. Vitis Idea, 1.
Davarica, Willd. Salix polaris, Wahl, and two other species undetermined.
punctata, L. Festuca Sativa?
nivalis, L. Glyceria,
Nardosmia carymbosa, Hook ? Trisetum subspicatum, Beaur, yar. Molle, Gray.
Brigeron Muirii, Gray, n. sp. Carex variflora, Wahl.
Taracacwn palustre, Di. vulgaris, Fries, var. Alpina, (C. rigida, Good).
Senicio frigidus, Less. Cystoperis fragilis, Bernt.
Artemisia glomerata, Ledt.
CAPE PRINCE OF WALES.
At Cape Prince of Wales we obtained :
Loiseleuria procumbens, Desr. Tofieldia coccinea, Richards.
Andromeda polifolia, Li. forma arctica. Armeria arctica, Ster.
Vaccinium Vitis Idea, L. Taraxacum palustre, D1.
Androsace chamejasme, Willd.
DVWoE NCL Y SUE ES i As Or CAPE L188 OU RN EF
Lychnis apetala, L. Oxytropis campestris, D1.
Androsace chamejasme, Willd. Erigeron uniflorus, L.
Gewm glaciale, Fisch. Artemisia glomerata, Ledb.
Potentilla nivea, L. Saxifraga escholtzii, Sternb.
biflora, Willd. flagellaris, Willd.
Phlox Sibirica, L. Chrysosplenium alternifolium, L.
Primula borealis, Daly. Draba hirta, L.
Anemone nareissifiora, L. var.
CAPE WANKEREM, SIBERIA.
Near Cape Wankerem, August 7 and 8, we collected:
Claytonia Virginica, L.? Chrysanthemum areticum, L.
Ranunoulus pygmaeus, Wahl. Senecio frigidus, Less.
Pedicularis Langsdor fii, Fisch. Artemisia vulgaris, var. Telesii, Ledeb.
Chrysosplenium alternifolium, L. Elymus arenarius, L.
Saxifraga cernua, L. Alopocurus alpinus, Sinith,
stellaris, L. var. cornosa. Poa arctica, R. Br.
rivularis, L. var. hyperborea, Hook. Calamagrostis deschampsioides, Trin. ?
Polemonium ceeruleum, L. Luzula hyperborga, R. Br.
Lychnia apetala, L. spicato Desy,
Nardosmia frigida, Hook,
52 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN.
PLOVER BAY, SIBEETA.
The mountains bounding the glacial fiord called Plover Bay, though beautiful in their combi-
nations of curves and peaks as they are seen touching each other delicately and rising in bold,
picturesque groups, are nevertheless severely desolate looking from the absence of trees and large
shrubs, and indeed of vegetation of any kind dense enough to give color in telling quantities, or to
soften the harsh rockiness of the steepest portions of the walls. Even the valleys opening back
from the water here and there on either side are mostly bare as seen at a distance of a mile or two,
and show only a faint tinge of green, derived from dwarf willows, heathworts, and sedges chiefly.
The most interesting of the plants found here are Rhododendron Kamtschaticumn, Pall., and the
handsome blue-fHlowered Saxrifraga oppositifolia, L., both of which are abundant.
The following were collected July 12 and August 26:
Gentiana glauca, Pall. Rhododendron Kamtschaticum, Pall.
Geum glaciale, Fisch. Cassiope tetragona, Desy.
Dryas octopetala, L. Anemone narcissifiora, L.
Aconitum Napellus, L. var. delphinifolium, Ser. Arenaria macrocarpa, Pursh.
Saxifraga oppositifolia, L. Draba alpina, L.
punctata, L. Parrya Ermanni, Ledb.
cespitosa, Li. Oxytropis, podocarpa, Gray.
Diapensia Lapponica, 1.
HERALD ISLAND.
On Herald [sland the common polar cryptogamous vegetation is well represented and
developed. So also are the fHowering plants, almost the entire surface of the island, with the
exception of the sheer crumbling bluffs along the shores, being quite tellingly dotted and tufted
with characteristic species. The following list was obtained :
Savifraga punctata, L? Draba alpina, L.
serpyllifolia, Pursh. Gymnandra Stelleri, Cham, & Schlecht.
sileniflora, Sternb. Stellaria longipes, Goldie, var. Edwardsii T. & G.
bronchialis, LL. Senecio frigidus, Less.
stellaris, L. var. comosa, Poir. Potentilla frigida, Vill?
rivularis, L. var. hyperborea, Hook. Salax polaris, Wahl.
hieracifolia, Waldst & Kit. Alopecurus alpinus, Smith.
Papaver nuedicaule, L. Luzula hyperborea, R. Br.
WRANGEL ISLAND.
Our stay on the one point of Wrangel Island that we touched was far too short to admit of
making anything like as full a collection of the plants of so interesting a region as was desirable.
We found the rock formation where we landed and for some distance along the coast to the
eastward and westward to be a close-grained clay siate, cleaving freely into thin fakes, with here
and there a few compact metamorphic masses that rise above the general surface. Where it is
exposed along the shore bluffs and kept bare of vegetation and soil by the action of the ocean, ice,
and heavy snow-drifts the rock presents a surface about as black as coal, without even a moss or
lichen to enliven its sombre gloom. But when this dreary barrier is passed the surface features of
the country in general are found to be finely molded and collocated, smooth valleys, wide as
compared with their depth, trending back from the shore to a range of mountains that appear blue
in the distance, and round-topped hills, with their side curves finely drawn, touching and blending
in beautiful groups, while scarce a single rock-pile is seen or sheer-walled bluff to break the
general smoothness.
The soil has evidently been derived mostly from the underlying slates, though a few frag-
mentary wasting moraines were observed containing traveled boulders of quartz and granite
which doubtless were brought from the mountains of the interior by glaciers that have recently
vanished—so recently that the outlines and sculptured hollows and grooves of the mountains have
not as yet suffered sufficient post glacial denudation to mar appreciably their glacial characters.
The banks of the river at the mouth of which we landed presented a striking contrast as to
vegetation to that of any other stream we had seen in the Arctic regions. The tundra vegetation
CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 53
was not wholly absent, but the mosses and lichens of which it is elsewhere composed are about as
feebly developed as possible, and instead of forming a continuous covering they occur in small
separate tufts, leaving the ground,between them raw and bare as that-of a newly-ploughed field.
The phanerogamous plants, both on the lowest grounds and the slopes and hilltops as far as seen,
were in the same severely repressed condition and as sparsely planted in tufts an inch or two in
diameter, with about from one to three feet of naked soil between them. Some portions of the
coast, however, farther south presented a greenish hue as seen from the ship at a distance of eight
or ten miles, owing no doubt to vegetation growing under less unfavorable conditions.
From an area of about half a square mile the following plants were collected :
Saxifraga flegellaris, Willd. Senecio frigidus, Less.
steilaris, L. var. cornosa, Poir. Potentilla nivea, L.
sileneflora, Sternb, Srigida, Vill.?
hieracifolia, Waldst. & Kit. Armeria macrocarpa, Pursh.
rivularis, Li. var. hyperborea, Hook. vulgaris, Willd.
bronchialis, L. Stellaria longipes, Goldie, var. Edwardsii T. & G.
serpyllifolia, Pursh Cerastium alpinum, L.
Anemone parviflora, Michx. Gymnandra Stelleri, Cham & Schlecht.
Papaver nudicaule, L. Salix polaris, Wahl.
Draba alpina, L. Luzulu hyperborea, R. Br.
Cochleria officinalis, L. Poa arctica, R. Br.
Artemisia borealis, Willd. Aira cespitosa, L. var. Arctica.
Nardosmia frigida, Hook. Alopecurus alpinus, Smith.
Saussurea monticola, Richards.
. ‘ uly
ea
*- ‘ .
py kiasves SP VY AORTA 1 VORWESHOND) SEL EPS SO) SATIS
rit é ; ix Mit ed
7 on = * 7 be oe
' : ‘ : ; PP. ey 1 + Mes
te Fareveds cepiir ; (4 fey vegdeoel ini Mr Mebitevgrs mgd y pel usithy Eile
: ees
tts 4 iain) | f rite Voerti huis wal id 1H{ "anh fewpalony
ores } a Sh ait ‘al ‘ i +8 el,
, 4 ith vefer itil euneee tert Dastiat et petty rat aint
pen AGN A ben brides taeerod atl ato vite rede Quer s
wien) bee fellifusiyieeertine Tey ae Sine age
, 4 oi TD a
" Jil Hig Dadian 1o-iovbamrnit of ane met ier ib ae
hi : l” ty an taaeel otis preety ay Leeipeenece Tae evr LD sas) orn eee
. t ' ; - Be. be yj - by
Ps Whi pnrkoty mptietege: of Ith Ot sate aMlie a
7 ~ M4 - ‘ = , 4
. Five aot A mrreatey ifial histrelaetn VT aT anes :
<= : Ps My a A
allege
, ved gn Tiitmimee as Vat ue ‘ ‘wiA2
thi vat wah, manartaie
' ' “ mapiten tary yf p\walinlyv 41 >o
= nwobe ively ied 5%
iva £ tel ye &? ee een 4
bird | lwivi uly 2b walesiey oe
| : J ‘ an
_ i F ; . " af i lhtivwean * | be
feet ie*t tesle ch aiae
: eilaité ot args /
iamlint od Sal i o\enitins ree
1 uniule ”
; é : WE Ss ia owt r i na Veeseaialln viral Oe
os yee HNL yehored a oh Th
7 ” wet ~ : s =~ Peal setae. pig Un
: pha all bins ve
ee
us
.
fi
BIRDS OF BERING SEA AND THE ARCTIC OCEAN.
BY
EH. W. NELSON.
The last of June, 1881, the United States revenue steamer Corwin reached Saint Michaels,
Alaska, on her cruise to Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean. The object of this cruise was to search
the various accessible portions of the Arctic for traces of the Jeannette and two missing whaling
vessels which were lost the same season that the Jeannette entered the ice. Through the courtesy
of the Secretary of the Treasury, | was taken on board and accompanied the Corwin throughout
the remainder of the season.
On June 21, we left Saint Michaels and crossed Bering Sea to Saint Lawrence Island and Plover
Bay on the Siberian coast; thence along this coast through the Straits and northwest in the Arctic
to the vicinity of Nordenskidld’s winter quarters, where we took on board a sledge party which had
been left there earlier in the season to search the coast in that district. Thence we returned again
to Saint Lawrence Island and to Saint Michaels. After remaining here a short time, we returned to
the Arctic, touching at all the islands in Bering Straits; and during the remainder of the summer
visited in succession the entire Alaskan coast line from Bering Straits to Point Barrow, including
Kotzebue Sound and on the Siberian shore from the Straits to North Cape. We also cruised along
the edge of the ice-pack, landing upon Herald and Wrangel Islands. On September 14, we passed
throngh Bering Straits bound south; and after remaining some time at Ounalaska in the Aleutian
islands, fitting the vessel for a voyage to San Francisco, we left, October 4, homeward bound.
The observations on which the present paper is based were made both during the cruise just
detailed, and in addition are the results of observations made by myself during over four years’
residence at Saint Michaels, and explorations carried on in various directions from that point. In
addition, I have used information obtained from various reports which have been issued regarding
the region in question, so far as the limited time at my disposal would allow.
The species given for the Alaskan coast and the islands of Bering Sea are almost, or quite, a
complete list of the birds found there; but the species mentioned upon the Siberian coast form
only a small quota of those occurring in that region. This is mainly due to the little that is known
concerning that region and the inaccessibility of its literature.
The Arctic waters lying between Greenland and Europe on the southeast, and America on the
southwest, have been visited by so many naturalists accompanying the various exploring and
other expeditions, that the vertebrate fauna, at least, has becoine pretty well known. This is
certainly true as regards the distinctivn of most of the species, though the life histories of many
undoubtedly yet require the patient research of some enthusiastic student ready to face the dis-
comfort, and often misery, entailed by such work in boreal regions.
Leaving this comparatively well-trodden field, however, where is the naturalist who is pre-
pared to state authoritatively just what is found at other portions, or on other coasts of this
great frozen ocean? The reply is simple, for as yet no one has been able to do more than to touch
at some remote corners of the coast; or a vessel’s prow may have pressed into the shifting ice-pack
a short distance only to be rebuffed or else caught and held in an unyielding grasp.
Exceptionally favorable opportunities of the writer in the unknown region of Bering Sea and
the adjoining portion of the Arctic Ocean to the north have been detailed in the present paper,
with such other information as could be obtained from other sources ; as we visited all parts of the
basin lying to the south of the solid ice-pack, and between Alaska on the east and south, Bering
Straits and part of Siberia completing the southern limit, and the same portion of Siberia and
Wrangel Island forming, with the ice-pack, the western border. Within this area, visiting all the
shores named, among which as specially noteworthy may be mentioned Herald and Wrangel
Islands, respecting which the only knowledge existing was that two bodies of land were known to
lie there, one of which, in fact, was previously considered almost mythical till the work of the
Dba
56) CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIWN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN.
Rogers and the Corwin has defined it. Further work will undoubtedly add other species to the
list and widen the range of others.
But it is thought the present paper will give a very good idea of the bird life of the regions
visited. Having the continent of America on the one side and Asia on the other, it might be
anticipated that we should secure specially rich results from the combinations of two faunas; yet,
although this is true to a certain extent, there are predominating reasons to prevent the very marked
exhibition of this. The first is the location of the region within the limits inhabited by a circum-
polar fauna, and in consequence frequented by many species of wide distribution. The next is the
similarity of the two barren coast lines and outlying islands, offering but small inducements to land
birds, while the sea birds, as usual, are species common to extended areas.
The usually low but rolling coast country, a monotonous grass-grown plain, varied by lichen or
moss-covered slopes, or wind-swept hills reaching back far into the interior, are the only variations
to the general level. Here and there a few weathered pieces of driftwood break the cold gray of the
shingly beach, while clusters of native huts or tents lend a passing interest to the cheerless coast,
thus offering but slight inducements for birds.
As might well be expected, the former region north of Bering Straits is entirely Arctic ; and
south of Bering Straits in Bering Sea the water birds may be divided into two groups—those fre-
quenting the deep water surrounding the Aleutian, Fur Seal, and Bering Strait Islands, and the
adjoining Siberian coast for the first group; and the shallow-water species occurring along the Alas-
kan shore from the mouth of the Kuskoquin River to the vicinity of Bering Straits. The former
group includes the auks and allied species; also the Rogers Fulmar and Steller’s eider; and the
second group such species as the emperor goose, the spectacled eider, and many of the fresh and
brackish water ducks.
This distinction of the two shores holds also, to a certain extent, north of.Bering Straits,
these two shores having there somewhat the same relationship I have just mentioned. There is
also a difference still more striking to be noted between the species frequenting the sea north of
Bering Straits and those to the south. North of the straits the auks are very rare, while south
throughout the Aleutian Islands, over all the other islands of Bering Sea, except along its eastern
border, including even the islands in Bering Straits, they swarm in the greatest abundance ; while
the presence in Bering Sea of several other species, including gulls and petrels not found north
of the straits, makes the difference still more striking. Beyond these differences, however, it is
difficult to divide the region into any well-marked faunal districts.
Though along some parts of the coast the breeding water fowl fill the marshes with life, yet
the rocky islands of Bering Sea are the places about which birds exist in the greatest numbers ;
and as Baron Nordenskiéld well remarks in his account of the Vega’s voyage, ‘It is not the larger
inhabitants of the Polar regions, such as the whale, walrus, bear, and seal, which first attract the ex-
plorer’s attention, but the innumerable flocks of birds that swarm around the polar traveller during
the long summer day of the North. And this is espeeially striking about any of the islands which
birds—the gulls, guillemots, and auks—seek as breeding-places. The islands of Bering Straits
resemble enormous bee-hives, about which the birds swarm in countless numbers, filling the air with
their swiftly moving forms in every direction, and the waters are covered with them all about the
islands, while every jutting point and place where foothold can be obtained is taken possession
of by them for breeding- places.
Although Herald Island is almost perpetually surrounded by the ice-pack, yet we found it
swarming with murres, guillemots, and gulls; as were also some of the cliffs on Wrangel Island.
Still to the westward, on some of the islands visited by the Jeannette crew on their retreat towards
the Siberian coast, this was also found to be the case, as Mr. Newcomb informs me and they found
theré guillemots in extreme abundance, although the islands were surrounded by an almost un-
broken ice-pack.
For the benefit of naturalists visiting this region in future, I will mention a few localities where
certain species of considerable interest may be obtained. The Emperor Goose is quite abundant
on the southwestern portion of Saint Lawrence Island, frequenting the low, flat portion of the island
intersected by lagoons. The islands of Bering Strait are all of them resorted to by the Crested
Parrot-billed and Least Auks, and the Diomede Islands in particular are frequented by myriads
CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 56c
of them throughout the summer season. Along the coast of Siberia from just north of Bering
Straits to wherever the shore is low and bordered by lagoons or shallow river mouths, occur the
Steller’s and the King Hider in great numbers. According to Nordenskidld the Emperor Goose
also visits this coast. At Tapkan we found Steller’s Eider in excessive abundance during our
stay there, as detailed in the following pages. The Alaskan coast, from Icy Cape to Point
Barrow, is also frequented by the King Eider in great abundance.
The Kotzebue Kittiwake nest in large numbers upon a small rocky islet just off Chamisso
Island at the head of the Kotzebue Sound, and also upon the cliffs bordering the northern shore
of Norton Sound in Bering Sea, especially those at Cape Darby and Cape Denbigh. Adams’s Loon
is found rather commonly upon the rivers flowing into the head of Kotzebue Sound, especially
along the Kunguk.
Some small rocky islets in the middle of Akutan Pass near Unalaska, in the Aleutian Islands,
are the breeding places of the beautiful little Forked-tailed petrel; and the coast line of Alaska
from Cape Vancouver to the middle of the Yukon delta is the great breeding-ground of the
Emperor geese. From the northern border of the Yukon delta north to Norton Bay the Spectacled
Eider breeds among the brackish water lagoons and ponds where the shore is flat and marshy.
North of Saint Michaels, however, this species is rare, occurring in its greatest abundance between
Saint Michaels and the Yukon mouth.
The principal sources from which information has been derived, in addition to my own
observations, have been Dall and Bannister’s list of birds in the “Transactions of the Chicago
Academy of Sciences” for 1869, and Dr. Coues’ Ornithology of the Pribylov Islands in Elliott’s
‘Condition of Affairs in Alaska,” Treasury Department, 1874.
The seasons of navigation upon the two shores of Bering Sea are usually somewhat uneven, the
ice remaining longer in spring upon the Alaskan coast than it does on the Siberian shore; and the
reverse in autumn, when the ice from the Arctic forces its way through Bering Strait and fills the
western portion of this sea for some distance before ice commences to form on the east coast. On
shore we have the reverse, and in the spring of 1881, when we left Saint Michaels, the last of June,
the hills were covered with green grasses, and willows and alders were commencing to show their
summer foliage, while numerous northern flowers were already in blossom. Only a rare patch of
snow was to be seen here and there on the distant hillsides, and summer was apparently at hand.
When we reached the Siberian coast, however, winter still appeared in force, and the snow reached
from the tops of the highest hills to the water’s edge in immense banks and drifts, although many
places where the snow or wind had opportunity to exert its influence showed the bare lichen-covered
rocks; but the vegetation was extremely backward, only just commencing to start, in fact. This,
however, is accounted for from the fact that the waters of western Bering Sea are deeper and far
colder than those of the eastern shore in summer, where the shallow water and great amount of
warm fresh water brought down by the numerous rivers flowing into the sea change the tempera-
ture very rapidly and at the same time rapidly affect the surrounding atmosphere. On the Siber-
ian coast, on the contrary, the ice is swept away by the strong currents which flow north and in
spring carrying with it ice, leaving the coast free from the latter, but at the same time surrounding
the shores with water at an icy temperature which falls but little throughout the summer. The
basin-like character of Norton Sound, as also of Kotzebue Sound in the Aretic, aid in giving them
a much milder climate than their northern location would indicate.
The coast of Bering Sea from the Yukon mouth north to Bering Strait is broken occasionally
by rugged cliffs, but, as a rule, is low and undulating, and covered with grass and mosses, inter-
spersed with ponds, where the various species of fresh-water fowl breed. Along the beach is strewn
great quantities of driftwood, which comes from the Yukon freshets, but trees occur only along a
small portion of the coast extending from the vicinity of Unalakleet north around the coast to near
Cape Darby, where the spruces are found in some places within a few yards of tide-water. From
this point north not a tree approaches within miles of the coast-line. At the head of Kotzebue
Sound a few spruces may be seen on the sides of distant mountains, and beyond this the country
has the peculiarly barren Arctic appearance. At the head of the Kotzebue Sound a species of tall
grass grows in considerable abundance; but leaving this sound to the north the coast becomes
56d CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN,
more and more barren, until from Iey Cape north it is a flat or slightly rolling monotonous stretch
of Avetie bogs.
At Plover Bay, on the Siberian shore, are low hills or mountains rising to 1,500 feet or
more, almost sheer from the bay in many places, and made up of enormous masses of rock, down
the sides of which the crumbling talus of splinters and fragments, weathered off, make the slopes
difficult to surmount. About here the attractions for the birds are very small, and but few species
except water fowl are found. On the north, towards Bering Strait, the coast is somewhat hilly;
but only at East Cape, the easternmost point of Siberia, do we find it rising again to a rugged
mountainous peak. Thence, again, along the northern coast the shore gradually becomes lower
until it finally assumes the low undulating barren character of the Arctic tundra; nor does this
last appear much more inviting to land birds than does the harsh faces of the broken and mount-
ainous districts. The islands of Bering Sea, as are most islands frequented by sea-birds in the
north, are enormous masses of rock apparently forced up out of the water, with almost precipitous
sides, affording innumerable chinks and crevices wherein the birds find shelter and places for
rearing their young; but with only a slight amount of vegetation, and much more familiar with
cold fogs and icy storms at all seasons, than they are with clear skies or warm sunshiny days.
In conclusion, I have only to express my thanks for the courtesies rendered, first to General
W. B. Hazen, Chief Signal Officer, and to the Secretary of the Treasury, through whose kind per-
mission and co-operation I was enabled to accompany the Corwin; and also to Professor S. F.
Baird and Mr. R. Ridgway, of the Smithsonian Institution, for aid in the preparation of this report.
E. W. NELSON,
Signal Service, U. S. A.
WASHINGTON, May 18, 1883.
ERRATA.
Owing to the absence of the author, and the haste with which this paper has been put through
the press, the writer had no opportunity to correct the proofs, and in consequence a number of
typographical errors are present—the most important of which are detailed in the following list.
Page 59, in place of “ sencica” read “suecica.”
Page 60, in place of “sylvai” read “ sylvia.”
Page 63, in place of “clata” read “ celata.”
Page 64, in place of “ myrodioetes ” read “ myiodioctes.”
Page 66, in place of “ cucoptera” read “ leueoptera.”
Page 70, in place of “alandinus” read “ alaudinus.”
Page 72, in place of ‘P. iliaca” read “ No. 44 Passerella iliaca townsendi.”
Page 74, in place of “alandide” read “ alaudide.”
Page 76, strike out one “a” in “ virginiaanus.”
Page 77, in place of “swinia” read “surnia”; in place of “ candicaus” read “ caudicans.”
Page 79, in place of “ sanetic” read ‘ saneti.”
Page 80, strike out one “e” in “ Haliaeetus;” for “ Tetracnide ” read “ Tetraonide.”
Page 81, for “ruspestris ” read “ rupestris.”
Through an error the notes under numbers 78 and 79 were not placed under a single heading.
age 82, for “ occidentalis” read © atkhensis.”
Page 85, for “‘ scolopacenus” read “scolopaceus”; for ‘‘maritima” read ‘ couesi, Ridg.”
Page 87, for “ pygranus” read “ pygmeus?”
Page 89, for “ fluiripes ” read “ flavipes.”
Page 93, for “ albifrous” read ‘“ albifrons.” =
Page 103, for “ groculide ” read “ graculide.”
Page 107, ‘“ Larus cachinnans” appears under two headings by an error.
Page 112, for “ fulmorus ” read “falmarus ” and space between this word and the next.
Page 114, for “ Polbélli” read ‘* Holbdlli.”
Page 115, for “ seplentrionalis ” read septentrionalis”; for “ corinculala” read ‘“ corniculata.”
?age 116, for “ Simorhynchut cristatelhus” read “ Simorhynchus cristatellus”; for ‘“ antiguus”
read “antiquus.”
ve: te
i
. 3 F ‘
Mi t
d ~ a
.
“4 =~.
‘
o~
:
: ~
+
a2
;
: a¢@
=. - S 5
a
fe. 4
i y
~—
i]
yf °° ‘
—- Z
~ ‘
~— ~ : *
od ‘ af i? peal: §
i . | \ o" alieler Ko Says
: / ’ 4 sd a ae la
=
i
oz
‘ , er a FS fal '
é ~ * ee —
“1 4 “ 2
,
i = — os
7 -
» . -
| _ =
# 7
:
.
.
,
,
.
=
‘ :
= > *
j =
:
t .
1,
1 * Fs
y bs ‘
a ong
me - Z i
> ; ee
v
i
iF
4
\
4
ae sis <— a
e
a
.
4
4
j
'
Ue. a al
Ww
» ? ¢
; os
be ae ue i : Siig | :
. PH BIRDS OF Rye RING SHA AND’ THE
oe RATE Te OURAN.
; . ; Gavin he ai be + i
(ae | a Sc oo a 9 PORDAS. THRUSH.
vr. eynociomna ALicige Baird.
(4) Tae GRay.Curuxen’ Pawo.
Are middle inlitades where our acquaintance is make with this bind we associate it with damp
mu i ‘Niel dbedds and sheltered glens, and it would seem almost incongraous to one fasniliar with it m
) ~ such surroundings to look for it as an inhabitant of ‘the barren stretches of arctic lands where for
many miles not a tree raises its. shaft. Sucis is! its horthern home, however, and throughout the
- entire arctic region north of Hudson's Bay to Bering Strait and across into Kamtchatka the bird
js found in @ greater portion of this range as anextremely abundant species. Wherever clamps
of dwarf willows or alder have gaineda foothold. along the sterile slopes and hillsides in the north,
|, @ pair or more pf these wander s may be looked for. Along the entire Bering Sea coast of Alaska,
and nort md the_ of Kot Sound, it is numerous among the many alder bushes
of the bird from Kamtchatka. venders certain its presence on
Siberia, Iv is the most northern species of thrash found in
Vix i only by the absence of a busi in which to place its nest,
hs the Nortiseca States jnat ag the buds are swelling and the
: tos a the si. oping seads and rootiets; Alied with
@ Awotic, where the Mackenzie and other
Yown the Yukon these birds" pass, using the
aw PU cesar’ iad thro ede ke wade Bate
Let Yekyn, many wander slong the opant of
jad in shebbored thickets among wiany of their
‘ia young. fire loug their joyous song is
wt Pat aie orl Ja |
Pen Ens
Ne v8.
ny. *% Lm
iat i
Theeein Ds OF BERING SEA AND THE
ae ee he ere BEA IN.
TURDIDA. THRUSHES.
HYLOCICHLA ALICIZ Baird.
(1.) THE GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH.
In middle latitudes where our acquaintance is made with this bird we associate it with damp
woodlands and sheltered glens, and it would seem almost incongruous to one familiar with it in
such surroundings to look for it as an inhabitant of the barren stretches of arctic lands where for
many miles not a tree raises its shaft. Such is its northern home, however, and throughout the
entire arctic region north of Hudson’s Bay to Bering Strait and across into Kamtchatka the bird
is found in a greater portion of this range as an extremely abundant species. Wherever clumps
of dwarf willows or alder have gained a foothold along the sterile slopes and hillsides in the north,
a pair or more of these wanderers may be looked for. Along the entire Bering Sea coast of Alaska,
and north around the shores of Kotzebue Sound, it is numerous among the many alder bushes
found on these shores, and the record of the bird from Kamtchatka renders certain its presence on
the adjoining shores of Northeastern Siberia. It is the most northern species of thrush found in
America and its breeding range is limited only by the absence of a busi in which to place its nest.
It passes by the groves and farms of the Northern States just as the buds are swelling and the
warm, misty rains of spring are quickening into life the sleeping seeds and rootlets; filled with
buoyant exultation it pauses now and then to pour forth those strange but pleasing cadences which
once heard in their full sweetness will never be forgotten. Butit has no time to tarry, and ere long
it is already far on its way to the north. The strange, wild song which arose but a short time
since in pleasant woodland spots and quiet nooks in southern groves is now heard by wandering
Indians who seek their summer fishing-grounds by the banks of northern streams. Yet a little
later and it troops in abundance near to the shores of the Arctic, where the Mackenzie and other
rivers pour their spring floods into the icy sea. Down the Yukon these birds pass, using the
densely bush-grown bank of the river as their highway, raising now and then their song which finds
here fittest surroundings. Reaching the mouth of the Yukon, many wander along the coast of
Bering Sea to the north, and some are said to cross the straits.
They have now reached their summer homes, and in sheltered thickets among many of their
kind they choose their mates and prepare for rearing their young. EHre long their joyous song is
heard no more, but instead the sprightly bird is busily engaged in caring for its gaping brood. In
the course of time the young are fledged, and now the unwary birds fall an easy prey to the untried
bows of the native boys, who follow them into their bushy coverts and slay many a helpless victim
with their blunt-pointed arrows. The skins of the birds killed by the boys are kept till winter and
hung in rows as trophies of the young hunters’ skill, to be brought out at the great midwinter hunt-
ing festival.
As the cold storms of autumn arise the birds, which have escaped the various dangers, and
which are easily affected by cold prepare to return, and retracing their way along the course
pursued in spring they pass again to the south, now shy and silent, awakening the echoes no longer
with joyous melody, but apparently imbued with the saddening spirit of autumn they pass quickly
by and are gone.
H. Ex. 105——8 57
58 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN.
HYLOCICHLA NANUS Aud.
(2.) THE DWARF THRUSH.
The presence of this species in my list is owing entirely to the identification of Gmelin’s
Ounalaskan Thrush as this bird by Mr. Ridgway. If Gmelin’s bird was one of these thrushes, as
the imperfect description may be interpreted to affirm, it occurs there merely as a straggler, for
since the original record not a specimen has been obtained at Ounalaska, or elsewhere on the
Aleutian Islands, by any of the numerous naturalists who have visited them. The description is
so vague and imperfect as given by Gmelin that absolute identification is impossible, and from
the geographical position of the original locality the chances are equally as favorable for H. alicie
to occur as for the Dwarf Thrush.
MERULA MIGRATORIA Linn. Sw. & Rich,
(3.) THE AMERICAN ROBIN.
The breeding limit of this bird is restricted to the wooded part of the interior, but it occurs as
a straggling migrant on the coast of Norton Sound and Bering Straits and a wind-bound visitant
to the Seal Islands. It is present as a summer resident on Kodiak Peninsula, as shown by skins
brought me by the Esquimaux. No doubt it is a straggler thence to Northeastern Asia or Chukchi
land. It also visits the shores of Kotzebue Sound in the course of its migrations, but I do not
know of its nesting anywhere near tide-water on this coast.
It is a pleasant experience for one in a far-off region like this to come across the familiar forms
known in other days. The sight of this bird gleaning its food about the houses on a frosty spring
morning in May, carries one’s mind back from sterile arctic scenery to the blossoming orchards, the
hum of bees, and such other pleasant sounds and sights of nature as go to make up a beautiful
spring day in lower latitudes. One misses, however, the warbling strain of the blue bird, and the
cheerless surroundings soon bring the stern reality too closely home. The birds too seem impressed
with the gloomy surroundings, and I have never heard them utter their notes during the time of
their visits to the sea-coast.
In the wooded interior, however, they regain their spirits and rear their young even north of
the circle, and here their cheering notes enliven the wooded river courses during the long summer
days, in striking contrast to the silence of a few months earlier when a deathly hush made the
shadows of the forests a fitting haunt for the wolf and wolverines.
There is no record of the occurrence of the robin in Northeastern Asia, that I have found,
although as before mentioned it undoubtedly is a casual visitant to that region. Elliott found
a single bird wind-bound upon the Seal Islands, beyond which there is no record of its occurrence
on any of the islands in Bering Sea.
HESPEROCICHLA N#VIA (Gmel.) Baird.
(4.) THE VARIED THRUSH.
‘This handsome bird equals the robin in its northern range in Alaska, and quite a number of
skins have been brought me from the northern shore of Norton Sound and from the Kotzebue
Sound region. The Eskimo have assured me of its range considerably beyond this district, and
Richardson found it on the Mackenzie River, within the Arctic Cirele, where he tells us it arrives
very soon after the Robin and the Yellow Warbler. It, like the Robin, prefers to nest in the wooded
country, but unlike the latter it nests at times in the alder clumps close to the shore of Norton and
Kotzebue Sounds. It is unknown from the islands and Asiatic shore of Bering Sea.
I have not had the pleasure of studying the life habits of this bird, so have nothing to add in
this particular, but may say that its habits during the breediag season are but little known, very
few naturalists having had opportunity to study its nidification.
CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 59
CINCLIDA. WATER OUZELS.
CINCLUS MEXICANUS Swains.
(5.) THE AMERICAN WATER OUZEL.
Throughout the year, along the sparkling streams which descend in a series of cascades from
the summits of the mountains on the Aleutian Islands, the cheerful presence and strange habits
of this odd little bird animate the silent and otherwise lifeless gorges and ravines furrowing their
steep slopes. It braves the wild tempestuous winters of this part of the North Pacific and Bering
Sea, and is found farther north wintering even on streams flowing into the Arctic Ocean.
This half aquatic thrush is found about open spots on streams flowing into the head of Norton
and Kotzebue Sounds, where it braves the severest temperatures of the harsh winters, regardless
of the intense cold prevailing for weeks at a time. It searches busily for its food in the icy
waters of the swiftly running streams by whose mossy banks, overhung with stunted pines and
willows, it rears its young in summer.
It is unknown whether this or its closely allied Asiatic relatives is found in Chukchi Land.
But neither form is found on the islands of Bering Sea, except in the Aleutian Chain, nor were
any seen at Plover Bay or East Cape, where, however, the conditions are scarcely favorable for
their presence.
SAXICOLIDA. STONE CHATS.
CYANECULA SENCICA (Linn.) Behm.
(6.) THE BLUE THROATED WARBLER.
The presence of this oddly marked songster here is owing solely to the occurrence of several
specimens at Saint Michael’s, Norton Sound, where several were taken by Dr. Adams in June,
1852.
The various authorities who have written on the habits of the Swedish nightingale, either as
seen in Northern Europe or Siberia, agree in giving it rare powers of song, especially in
mimicking the notes of other birds. So varied and peculiar are its capabilities in this respect that
we can but regret that its presence on American shores is due to mere accident.
The bird, though quite distinct in several characteristics, especially of color and pattern of body,
is closely allied to saxicola, as it possesses the peculiar distribution of color on the tail feathers
almost precisely as in this later genus, and other marks of resemblance. I do not know of its
occurrence in Northeastern Siberia, although its summer distribution is subarctic, and it has been
found on the Lower Lena and in various parts of Middle Siberia.
SAXICOLA G@NANTHE (Linn.) Bechst,
(7.) THE STONE CHAT.
The Wheat Ear, although long known as a rather common summer resident in the northeast-
ern corner of America and in Greenland, has but recently been found in Alaska, where Mr. Dall
was the first to find it. He obtained a number of specimens in the middle Yukon region, since
which time Dr. T. H. Bean has found it not uncommon on the Arctic Coast from Kotzebue Sound
to Cape Lisburne, and the writer has taken it in the fall and spring on the shores of Norton Sound
at Saint Michael’s, and a native brought a skin of one of these birds on board the Corwin at King
Island the summer during one of our visits there.
This list of occurrences shows that the bird is to be considered a somewhat regular visitant to
some parts if not all of Northern Alaska. It is very erratic in its occurrence, however, and
where quite common one season may not be found at all the next.
In the summer of 1880, Dr. Bean found the bird not uncommon in the range just given,
whereas in the summer of 1881 I[ visited the same shore in the Corwin and failed to find a single
individual, although keeping a sharp watch for birds wherever we landed. Strangely enough
this bird has not been taken anywhere in Eastern Siberia, so that its presence in Alaska must be
60 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN.
supposed to result from its passage westward along the northern shore of America from Greenland
and its adjoining habitat, evidently entering Northern Alaska and perhaps Northeastern Asia
from Europe by way of the Northwest Passage.
SYLVIIDA. OLD-WORLD WARBLERS.
SYLVAI EVERSMANNI.
(8.) EVERSMANN’S WARBLER.
Flocks of this small bird came during the middle of June and settled on the Vega at Tapkan,
her winter quarters, northwest of the Straits. This was before the ground was free from snow,
and the birds appeared to be much exhausted.
PHYLLOSCOPUS BOREALIS (Blas.) Dresser.
(9.) KENNICOTT’S WARBLER.
The first American spécimen of this Siberian Warbler was taken by the naturalist of the
Western Union Telegraph Expedition at Saint Michael’s, Norton Sound, in 1866. Since then no
others have been secured until the three specimens I had the good fortune to obtain at the same
locality during my residence at that place. Its recurrence appears to be very irregular, as it was
found only in two seasons out of four, during-which I kept a sharp lookout and had native
collectors searching for them, but obtained and saw only the examples mentioned. It has never
been taken on the Siberian shore of the region covered by this paper, but further towards
Middle Siberia it is known to be common, extending its summer range to the vicinity of the Arctic
Circle, passing south through Eastern and Central Asia in its autumnal migration. In the region
of Lake Baikal it is acommon migrant, as well as further east in Siberia. How gen eral its range in
Northeastern Siberia is can only be determined when the numerous ornithological problems of
that country are solved by the work of some ornithologist.
PARIDA. TITMICE.
PARUS ATRICAPILLUS SEPTENTRIONALIS (Harris,) Allen.
(10.) THe LONG-TAILED CHICKADEE.
An irregular visitor to the Alaskan shore of Bering Sea, mainly about Norton and Kotzebue
Sounds, where it is not a rare bird in the fall and at times also in the spring. But it is never
resident here, owing to the lack of suitable shelter.
PARUS CINCTUS GRISESCENS, Sharp & Dresser..
(11.) THE SIBERIAN CHICKADEE.
Though to be accounted a Siberian species by right of general distribution and priority of
discovery, yet this little Chickadee makes its home among the spruce and paper-birch forests of
Northern Alaska, and like the preceding makes occasional excursions to the adjoining coasts and
comes familiarly about the houses, where it enlivenes the gloomy opening of the long cheerless
winter or breaks into the monotony of the silent frosty days later in the season.
Although Mr. Ridgway identified the original American specimens of this bird as typical
Parus cinctus, a more careful examination of a much larger series made by myself shows that it is
really referable to the much grayer and somewhat larger Hastern Siberian form, described in
‘¢ Dresser’s Birds of Europe,” and to which all American specimens should be referred.
'
PARUS HUDSONICUS Forst.
(12.) THE HUDSONIAN CHICKADEE.
This bird is the third and last of a band of active, cheerful wood-sprites, whose busy notes
and amusing motions while playing at gymnastics, as they rove in merry troops through the wood-
CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 61
lands of the interior, holding their own against the inclement winter with its cold and famine,
render them the most interesting of the winter inhabitants of northern forests. Their odd self-
assertion and seeming importance render them noticeable and attractive wherever one goes.
Like its relatives, a few of the more adventurous of this species also pay flying visits to the
sea-Shore, where for a short time they flit about searching the crevices of the log houses, climbing
about the fences, and making themselves thoroughly at home for a short season and then betake
themselves to more suitable quarters again.
TROGLODYTIDH. WRENS.
ANORTHURA ALASCENSIS (Baird) Coues.
(13.) THE ALASKAN WREN.
This sturdy representative of the common winter wren of the Eastern United States makes
its permanent home on the foggy, storm-beaten Aleutian and Fur Seal Islands. Here, in spite of
inclement weather and the harsh, cheerless form assumed by nature on all sides, this plain but
interesting Wren passes its life. All about snow-clad hills or rugged, rock-strewn cliffs and steep
mountain slopes rise against a cloud-hidden sky. Masses of sleet and rain dash down the slopes
and ravines, sending sheets of spray across the water and driving all else to seek shelter; yet this
bird holds its own on some partly sheltered slope or grassy flat, and if spring be at hand its clear
notes may be heard breaking forth during a lull in the storm as the hardy songster holds by a
firm grasp upon some small bush beaten back and forth in the wind, or perhaps from some jutting
rock. j
The ravines are still bedded with snow in many places, when he has already chosen a partner
and is deep in the mysteries of family life. In autumn he is found sprightly as before, but less
musical, as he flits about the grassy flats and hilly slopes, generally in pairs, so that it may be
possible he is paired for life.
What its habits are during winter I cannot say, but so brave a heart in so small a body, that
bids its owner endure this long, cheerless season, with its weeks of tempests raging over the snow-
covered mountains and through the narrow valleys, commands one’s admiration. Though the
smallest of the birds found on these islands it seems capable of enduring as much as the hardiest
of them. It is one of the peculiar forms, limited to these forbidding islands, whose influence upon
their inhabitants is not alone shown by the peculiar character of their bird life, but also in their
people as well, the language and customs of the latter having their insular peculiarities as striking
as those distinguishing this wren from its mainland kin, though in some customs our little
troglodyte has varied less than his human fellow-inhabitant, and he still makes his snug nest in
some cosy nook in the rocky cliffs bounding the grim faces of the many surrounding mountains, or
a cleft in a rocky ledge becomes the chosen spot.
While the Corwin lay at Ounalaska, the last of September and first of October, 1881, these
birds were common in pairs, as if permanently mated. They kept among the tall grasses, ferns,
and small willows formed on the flats at the heads of the inner bays, but were remarkably silent;
and though their movements were active and they were frequently seen balancing on the tops of
the tall plants, not a note was heard,and their movements can only be described as similar to those
of any wren in such a position.
Mr. Elliott tells me that during exceptionally severe winters on Saint George Island large
numbers of these birds perish. A few seasons, however, suffice to bring the number up to its
original stand-point.
Another curious point in the history of this bird is the fact, as ascertained by the same observer,
that although one of the commonest birds on Saint George Island it is totally unknown on the
adjoining island of Saint Paul. ‘This is a remarkable instance of the strange and often unaccount-
able limitation to the distribution of birds. Saint Paul Island is only about thirty miles from Saint
George, where the wren is abundant, but not one is known to pass from one island to the other.
One hundred and eighty miles separate Saint George Island from the nearestof the Aleutian,
which latter islands must be considered as the birds’ original habitat.
62 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN.
MOTACILLIDA. WAGTAILS.
BUDYTES FLAVA (Linn.) Gray.
(14.) THE YELLOW WAGTAIL.
As a summer resident on the shores of Bering Sea, in Alaska, this handsome bird makes its
appearance the last of May or the first of June, according to the season, and very soon after is
mated and performing its summer duty of nesting and rearing its young, in all the suitable portions
of the low, open country, from the Yukon mouth on the south to the southern shore of Kotzebue
Sound on the north. Saint Michael’s may be taken as the center of abundance of this bird in
Alaska. At the Yukon mouth, I found it rare in the spring of 1879 and during the summer of 1880.
I only found two or three specimens at the various landings made in Kotzebue Sound; it was, also,
found sparingly at Plover Bay, where nearly every naturalist who has landed there has also found
jt. It was not seen on the Arctic shore of Siberia visited by the Corwin, nor does Nordenskjold
mention it as being found at his wintering place. As autumn approaches, towards the last of
August, these gentle birds prepare to return to their winter quarters in Southeastern Asia and
adjoining islands. One by one they leave our shore, and unless some waif is caught, like the one
Mr. Dall secured at sea, off Saint Matthew’s Island, nothing more is heard of them in America until
they recross the sea again in spring. Meanwhile they have twice passed the strange scenes of
China, Japan, and other adjoining lands of the Orient, and penetrated the countries of Southeastern
Asia and the adjoining islands, joining meanwhile in pleasant fellowship with many a strange
feathered companion, whose experience wots not of the wide lands roamed over by his jaunty,
tip-tilted friend, whose air of complacent impertinence speaks of much sight-seeing in foreign parts;
and who knows but he even affects a slight Eskimo lisp as the result of his voyage across the seas ?
However, he is a very welcome summer visitor to the cheerless bogs of Northwestern Alaska and
makes a pleasant addition to the slightly varied character of the bird life in this portion of the far
north.
ANTHUS LUDOVICIANUS (Gm.) Licht.
(15.) THE AMERICAN TITLARK.
During the early spring the Titlark is found sparingly along the entire Alaskan coast of Bering
Sea, but does not breed to my knowledge south of the straits, except perhaps on the mountains
back from the coast, and I have not found it numerous at any season, though it is said to be
common in the interior. It also occurs on the Chuckchee peninsula and Aleutian Islands. The
first of August it comes straggling slowly back from its breeding ground in the north, bringing its
young in train, and after lingering for a short time about favorite spots in the vicinity of Saint
Michael’s passes on to seek winter quarters far to the south.
ANTHUS PRATENSIS (Linn.) Bechst.
(16.) THE EUROPEAN TITLARK.
This widely-spread Old World bird has been taken but once within the region treated of in
this paper. A single specimen was secured at Saint Michael’s by Mr. Dall, during the Russian-
American Telegraph Expedition, and remains the only evidence of its presence on either shore of
Bering Sea.
MOTACILLA OCULARIS Swirshoe.
(17.) Tok SIBERIAN WAGTAIL.
All the later naturalists who have visited Plover Bay, Siberia, have secured specimens of this
handsome bird, Dall, Bean, and myself in succession finding it there. The two former took it late
in the season in imperfect plumage, while during the second visit of the Corwin to this bay, the
last of June, 1881, I secured a fine adult male in perfect breeding plumage, the handsome plate
egeund uamuns ‘eteu NPY STUVTINOO VITIOVLOW
pa ee ;
eaten
7,
OBUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE AROTIO OCR. 63
accompany iny thie volume showing the biti mentioned. They are found on the greedy tate which
cover the spit making owt at the mouth of the bay, and are ve ry unsuspicious, if my smugly exemple
is to be talvew, av, iyyiowl, If was close to the Rekimo huts and lighted upon a stove as [new near,
allowinypy wi ber apron wer closely. Ltda obtained the prize without the slightest ditlienity,
Mr, Tar stniietiathe okeerved one of theme birds on the island of Atka, the westernmost of the
Aleintian Hew in the, spring of S881, Anat one ef the most remarkable fabts in connection with
tne Mahan ar ' this species is the fae that a specimen has lately been received at the National
| ~ Mitre porrsin, adi rl by Mr. lu Belding iv Houthern Oatifornia, where it was obtained in the early
| ae amano i Waa A882, thus iutrodueing it as 4 member of the fauna of North America. It is a
. ‘aon wee jetty well-known bind in collections from Eastern psiberia, Its life history, however,
peat wmmittioa ty he worked out. Che anconmpanying plate represents it ia the aet of darting at an
fatamiee!, Hy hue wharaotertatie manner of this and allied birds,
‘The specimen at thiy bird, whieh | obtained Jane 26, 1831,,at Plover Bay, Siberia, is an adult
jst oA expan Wiamag, of whieh the following is a dencthotit: .
x + Raw mourly uniform ashy, changing on upper tail coverts to blackish, with an asiry wash on
of feathers. AU but two outer tail feathers black 5. the two outer feathers white, each having
| at a marrow longitudinal band of ack from base along the edge of inner web, which runs.out towards
Ae ee _#he end of the feathers an inch from tip of first and close to tip of second, A black line extends
AA) along near the shaft of outer web of the next to onter feather, breaking and disappearing near the
middle of the feather. Wing light brown; tertiames much darker and edged with white. The
- greater and lesser coverts are so broadly edged with white as to overlap and conceal the dark
brown centers, the two thus forming a large, uniform white patch on the upper surface of wing.
A broad frontal patch of white extending from bill back on crown to a line drawn across the
posterior edge of orbits and eontinting back nearly to the déceiput as a supraoenlar stripe. A
nearly black line extends from gape back through eye, uniting the neck with the nearly square
black patch which oceupies the crown and nuchal region and extends partly down on sides of neck.
_. From the base of lower Mandible on eacs side a widening band of white extends back under tho .
eye and dewn the side of neck, separating the black crown patch from the large black patch which
extends from the base of iatied mandible down over the throat and breast. ‘The rest of under
- — sph hh a0 with « wash of ashy on sides and flanks. Bill and feet black. Iris dark
WW is ; hate tail, 3.75; tarsus, .95; middle toe and claw, .71; culmen, .50 inches.
ee aaa
a eee
e3=
x
AP ees Gee
tee =
lo a
Hee AN a “prnvicotapa: AMERICAN WARBLERS.
" AS ‘ 4 a MRLMENTHORHAG A CLA TA (Say) Baird,
OME eat Mh Uk) tne Oeawen. CnlownED WARBLER.
‘hot DEG Milibtasitie i Whaat breeding bird of the interior of'Northern Alaska during each summer,
Shy aati but does not. neually appear ‘along th seteoant notil its young are fledged and are on their way
pres south. This takes place during the fest half of Angust, at which time these birds are quite
_ mumerous for one or two weeks, expecially alang the shore of Norton Sound. They are not known
es Pe a dhsrhtnete ere ry nor on any of the islands in Bering’s Sea.
/
La he ay |) DENDRGICA mSTIvA (Ginei,) Ba. .
dh h i Ne Lae nea (19.) Tar Yur.ow WARBLER.
i} deulidon. Water resident in every alder and willow patch along tie Americen mainland,
and mow muMerons on the shores of Norton and Kotzebue Sounds than elsewheré, owing mainly
the: ( of its favorite shelter on these shores, Its familiar notes and bright plumage
rede it one a the anost. attractive summer visetants. it is one of the few species of this group
nthe ‘ew rag yi hoemeppin a aajgmunaa its a the prettiest plumage of its ita
y high latitude in America, =
= Wisle, summer plumage.
/ ey
<
Gy
+
OCULAR
ee
TACILLA
MO
CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 63
accompanying this volume showing the bird mentioned. They are found on the grassy flats which
cover the spit making out at the mouth of the bay, and are very unsuspicious, if my single example
is to be taken as typical. It was close to the Eskimo huts and lighted upon a stone as I drew near,
allowing me to approach very closely. I thus obtained the prize without the slightest difficulty.
Mr. Turner states that he observed one of these birds on the island of Atka, the westernmost of the
Aleutian Chain, in the spring of 1881. And one of the most remarkable facts in connection with
the history of this species is the fact that a specimen has lately been received at the National
Museum, obtained by Mr. L. Belding in Southern California, where it was obtained in the early
winter of 1881-1882, thus introducing it as a member of the fauna of North America. It is a
common and pretty well-known bird in collections from Eastern Siberia. Its life history, however,
still remains to be worked out. The accompanying plate represents it in the act of darting at an
insect in the characteristic manner of this and allied birds.
The specimen of this bird, which I obtained June 26, 1881, at Plover Bay, Siberia, is an adult
male in full spring plumage, of which the following is a description:
Back nearly uniform ashy, changing on upper tail coverts to blackish, with an ashy wash on
edges of feathers. All but two outer tail feathers black ; the two outer feathers white, each having
a narrow longitudinal band of black from base along the edge of inner web, which runs out towards
the end of the feathers an inch from tip of first and close to tip of second. A black line extends
along near the shaft of outer web of the next to outer feather, breaking and disappearing near the
middle of the feather. Wing light brown; tertiaries much darker and edged with white. The
greater and lesser coverts are so broadly edged with white as to overlap and conceal the dark
brown centers, the two thus forming a large, uniform white patch on the upper surface of wing.
A broad frontal patch of white extending from bill back on crown to a line drawn across the
posterior edge of orbits and continuing back nearly to the occiput as a supraocular stripe. A
nearly black line extends from gape back through eye, uniting the neck with the nearly square
black patch which occupies the crown and nuchal region and extends partly down on sides of neck.
From the base of lower mandible on each side a widening band of white extends back under the
eye and down the side of neck, separating the black crown patch from the large black patch which
extends from the base of lower mandible down over the throat and breast. The rest of under
surface white, tinged with a wash of ashy on sides and flanks. Bill and feet black. Iris dark
hazel. Dimensions: Wing, 3.65; tail,3.75; tarsus, .95; middle toe and claw, .71; culmen, .50 inches.
SYLVICOLIDA. AMERICAN WARBLERS.
HELMINTHOPHAGA CLATA (Say) Baird.
(18.) THE ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER.
This is quite a common breeding bird of the interior of Northern Alaska during each summer,
but does not usually appear along the sea-coast until its young are fledged and are on their way
south. This takes place during the first half of August, at which time these birds are quite
numerous for one or two weeks, especially along the shore of Norton Sound. They are not known
to occur on the adjoining shore of Siberia, nor on any of the islands in Bering’s Sea.
DENDRGCA ZSTIVA (Gmel.) Bd.
(19.) Taz YELLOW WARBLER.
A common summer resident in every alder and willow patch along the American mainland,
and more numerous on the shores of Norton and Kotzebue Sounds than elsewhere, owing mainly
to the abundance of its favorite shelter on these shores. Its familiar notes and bright plumage
render it one of the most attractive summer visitants. It is one of the few species of this group
extending its range within the Arctic Circle, and has, perhaps, the prettiest plumage of its kind
reaching this high latitude in America.
64 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN.
DENDRGICA CORONATA (Linn.) Gray.
(20.) THE YELLOW-RUMP WARBLER
Occurs as an occasional, but not rare, visitant along the American shore, perhaps most
numerous along the shores of Norton Sound. It is, however, a woodland species, and makes bit
very short stops along the inhospitable coast, but hastens to more congenial locations in the
interior, where it rears its young. In the autumnal migration it hastily seeks its more southern
haunts, and rarely lingers along the bare coast of the north, as do some of its relatives.
DENDRGCA STRIATA (Forst.) Baird.
(21.) THE BLACK-POLL WARBLER.
Like the Yellow Rump, this is a rather scarce bird, and is found along the shore of Norton
Sound merely as a spring and fall migrant. It also occurs upon the shores of Kotzebue Sound
at the same season. Like other small birds, it frequents the vicinity of houses during its passage,
where it apparently finds the best foraging grounds. The small garden spot close to the kitchen at
Saint Michael’s seems to be the great rendezvous and point of attraction for such of these small
species as pass that way in spring and fall. Like some of the other small birds mentioned, this is
a common interior species; it is unknown on the islands and Asiatic shore of the sea.
SIURUS NAVIUS (Boda) Coues.
(22.) THE SMALL-BILLED WATER THRUSH.
Rather common about the shores of Norton Sound during the fall migration, which continues
during the month of August. Although not numerous every season, yet from three to a dozen
may be taken about the muddy spots in the immediate vicinity of the houses at Saint Michael’s.
It has not been taken on any of the islands in Bering Sea. These birds breed in the bushy islands
of the Lower Yukon in great abundance as well as in some of the more favorable thickets along the
coast of Norton Sound, ranging as high up at least as Kotzebue Sound. Their clear, rich notes
rise from the dense clumps of willows or alders in their favorite haunts in spring, enlivening the
river banks with their wild full tones and dividing the musical honors with the larger Fox-colored
Sparrow.
MYRODIOCTES PUSILLUS (Wils.) Bp.
(23.) THE BLACK-CAPPED YELLOW WARBLER.
In companionship with the Yellow Warbler, this pretty little bird makes its summer home
among the bushy patches along the coast, especially from the Yukon mouth north to Kotzebue
Sound. Both this and the species just mentioned extend their summer haunts even to the
confines of the Arctic Cireie. Both make pilgrimages in the winter to Mexico and Central
America, where they hob-nob and catch flies with the stay-at-home warblers and fly catchers of
the tropical forests, and after a season of recreation and plenty they betake themselves over the
thousands of miles intervening and arrive a merry, restless party at their nesting grounds early
in June or the last of May. They are unknown beyond the Alaskan mainland and are more
plentiful in the interior than on the coast.
LANIIDA. SHRIKES.
LANIUS BOREALIS Vieill.
: (24.) THE GREAT NORTHERN SHRIKE.
The Northern Shrike is a very rare visitant to the coast of Bering Sea, and except at the
mouth of the Yukon and along the shores of Kotzebue and Norton Sounds its occurrence is very
unusual. In the places mentioned it must be classed as rare. The mouth of the Yukon is appar-
ently the point of most frequent occurrence, while elsewhere it is a mere straggler.
ORUIAR OF SIWAMER CORM I IN TAB ARCTIC OCKAR me
WA ROTATE OREN FT
hy hans Oe dati: Betct ecw,
AA Motwetl honk damdiodl Havin Wewanet Genet ocak Ue eta Gepan or peepare for pete ay
clear fijin the jee fhiit) the. wtrasiy tide Was, elegy whet ae wk ooo mach force for shone,
sailor dipmse tye tor ure in aloe ien) oneatvrenr imme Monlel nk ye tet apa lemme OF Chis bird ow city tne
Baik bw baad, plelbadk ap cep. eam UNF RMRA Mi mins whwibied ob weet A aa fee Oh. A cinight De 2uppocat
\ the. deaminy was taljan Bo dang oa Ny iden yi were dirty the craiae of the Sorwie.
| | By the aid of al ee we | Wieiow ty Me. Blaway baw cuwedully reprodceed
f | fitein the accompany iing phan, N aie ute hi yon wfiegrnent of drift- woud
eee wear Ao gga ant te tie, Wirtdaaie, he Latowr being from shor ctu
oe ally ay Be we Miler Cited y hate whee Lonard Prageents
Ph ps shin ag te Howe, one whe have dey the
necgenarily have lk we iiyodkund solely by a fight of
Ne Assiatle bli ond tng aero vrance ine vpn, the isitte
Re ee Sette g mee ators,
) F wba Although the bind wag aliainet whe igi of
: wang,ofithe year ta ith ietiblnnnidaietiitlch the Gollowiag is = derctuption :
a apper part of the back. i: \slightly dull rafous or chestisst Weal Lighter deere -
‘ish and yellowish browh with dark bars. The upper tai covers wre renaaps
Jeans aeylanll fb h dark barring near the | yh aaa The feathews of wrewe
| and back-are edged § slightly. with grayish, sho ge eA — The Een heer
with, color of th 1 Yost jaws feta the sb i
He
gee
ae
HE
ig:
=
i
(Ee
pes
fess Pilea al ae
its aera hat ae
A \ 1h ri "
an . ‘ M } a aa th An Ravi ‘ons may
{a i | +i .
pail *
”, Nin
Fae a.
yi SR
on, ae
Re eye,
CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 6)
LANIUS CRISTATUS.
(25.) THE CRESTED SHRIKE.
As the last boat came off from Wrangel Island and the captain began to prepare for getting
clear from the ice that the strong tide was bringing about us with too much force for safety, a
sailor came up to me in a Shamefaced manner and held out a dried specimen of this bird which he
said he had picked up on the hillside and wished to know if I cared for it. As might be supposed
the mummy was taken in hand and is among the prizes secured during the cruise of the Corwin.
By the aid of alcohol it came safely to Washington, and Mr. Ridgway has carefully reproduced
it in the accompanying plate. It has been represented as perching upon a fragment of drift-wood
frozen in the ice, with the shores of Wrangel Island in the distance, the latter being from sketches
taken by myself as we were leaving that place. I may refer to the fact that we found fragments
of drift-wood, not only upon this island but in the water about it, as several who have seen the
drawing have supposed that the perch must necessarily have been introduced solely by a flight of
the artist’s imagination. This is strictly an Asiatic bird, and its occurrence here upon the hillside
far above the tide-mark shows that it must have reached here alive, probably during some storm,
and died subsequently of starvation or exposure. Although the bird was obtained the 12th of
August, yet it is a young of the year in its first plumage, of which the following is a description:
The crown and upper part of the back is slightly dull rufous or chestnut; back lighter toward
rump where it is grayish and yellowish brown with dark bars. The upper tail coverts are russet
or reddish brown with dark barring near the end and tipped with grayish. The feathers of crown
and back are edged slightly with grayish, showing the immature plumage. The wings are brown
with color of the back extending over the shoulders, but with the coverts brown, edged with dull
buffy and grayish and becoming reddishin some instances. The tertiaries are edged broadly with
pale brownish yellow. The tail is reddish brown, nearly uniform, except the outer feather, which
is lighter than the inner. Belly nearly a uniform yellowish white, marked on breast and sides
with fine, wavy, and irregular bars of brownish or blackish, giving a loosely vermiculated appear-
ance to the lower surface. The throat is immaculate yellowish white. The lores are grayish white,
shaded with buffy, which color extends back as an imperfect supraorbital line, and the cheeks and
auriculars are yellowish white or pale buffy, finely maculated with dark edges to the feathers.
The measurements of the bird are:
Inches.
Wan ee oe ee a ee es ee ee le Re See ae cael oe eee 3. 40
NPN i oe es Se ae ce a heey vs SAN oe i ee ke eo 3.70
Colmenee 2 ase ee oe eens ee BNE EREDAR BRP EP a See ee kon oon 50
Depshyot billbabipase es some eee a A ee oe ee ee oe oe ne oe 28
LPT Sh Sie Mt eS ge ods es eee ee A 2 ee ae 98
The graduation of the tail is nearly seventy-hundredths of an inch.
HIRUNDINIDA. SWALLOWS.
HIRUNDO ERYTHROGASTRA Bodd.
(26.) THE BARN SWALLow.
One of the most pleasant sights that meet the traveler’s eye on landing at Saint Michael’s is
the large number of common Barn Swallows which make their homes about the buildings. These
birds extend their range to the shores of Bering Sea and the Arctie Ocean. Their cheerful
twittering and graceful motions as they eircle and glide in wayward flight about the small collection
of log houses recall scenes of a far different character than those which fill the eye at this place.
Here they nest in deserted native houses or under the eaves of the few frame or log houses, and in
some instances seek the shelter of rocky caves and hidden spots on the faces of the cliffs, as was
seen on the north shore of Kotzebue Sound, where two nests were found placed far inside of a deep
cleft extending into a rocky cliff reaching out into the sea. The nests were in close proximity
upon a rocky shelf, while below them the waves dashed back and forth, breaking into spray within
a few inches of the nests. In the Aleutian Islands the swallow is scarce, and is said not to occur
H. Ex. 105——9
66 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN.
west of Ounalaska. At this latter place its occurrence is governed largely by the character of
the season; a pleasant spring brings them to nest about the village, while an inclement season
prevents a single one from making its appearance.
The Hirundo Unalasce Gmelin refers without question to this species, as there is nothing else
to which it can be referred occurring at Ounalaska. As before remarked, in some seasons not a
swallow is seen at Ounalaska, again they are common; but thus far the researches in that region
have revealed no species of swallow except this which visits this chain of islands.
TACHYCINETA BICOLOR (Vieill.) Caban.
(27.) THE WHITE-BELLIED SWALLOW.
The present bird occurs quite commonly along the shores of Norton Sound during moderately
pleasant days the last of May, and coincident with the main flight of the Blackbrant it hunts back
and forth through the marshy flats and over the bare hillsides, but is rarely found in the settlements.
After a very short stay it leaves for the wooded country in the interior, or on the lower parts of the
larger streams where it breeds. In August it is again seen like various other species straggling
along the coast. It haunts the vicinity of settlements at this season and may be seen generally
n companionship with its cousin, the Barn Swallow, for a day or two, but rarely remains until the
latter starts in its southern migration. I find no record of either this or the preceding extending
its range to the Asiatic coast, nor are they known, to my knowledge, on any of the islands in the
Bering Straits region.
FRINGILLIDA. FINCHES.
PINICOLA ENUNCLEATOR (Linn.) Vieill,
(28.) THE PINE GROSBEAK.
An extremely rare straggler to the unwooded shore of Bering Sea. About the head of Norton
Sound, however, where spruce forests reach the shore, they are not uncommon. Here, as elsewhere,
in the wooded country it is resident. For a discussion of the geographical variation of this bird
I must refer those interested to the more general work I am preparing on the birds of the Territory
of Alaska, as lack of space forbids taking up the subject here.
LOXIA CURVIROSTRA AMERICANA (Wils.) Coues.
(29.) THE AMERICAN CROSSBILL.
An excessively rare species on the shores of Bering Sea, 1 know of its occurrence there in
but a single instance; this was a specimen taken at Saint Michael’s in winter by Mr. Turner. It is
of excessive rarity in the Yukon region. The Saint Michael’s specimen is identical with others
obtained at Sitka and in the surrounding region, which appear to average considerably smaller
than the birds of the interior and eastern portion of the continent. Its occurrence to the north of
the Alaskan Peninsula can be looked upon as very exceptional.
LOXIA CUCOPTERA Gm.
(30.) THE WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL.
Although this species is seen much more frequently on the coast than the former, yet it is also
a rare bird there except where, as about the head of Norton Sound, the forest of the interior
approaches the coast. In the interior, however, this is one of the commonest and most familiar
birds, and is one of the few hardy species which braves the rigorous winters in this region. During
this latter season they ntay be found moving in small parties through the tree-tops, or in scattered
pairs during the summer attending to the duties of incubation and rearing their young. Neither
this nor the preceding species is known to occur upon any of the islands of Bering Sea or upon
any part of the Siberian shore. This might be anticipated from a knowledge of the unsuitable
character of these portions of the region in question.
CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 67
LEUCOSTICTE GRISEINUCHA (Brandt) Baird.
(31.) THE ALEUTIAN Rosy FINCH.
Along the entire Aleutian chain of islands, from Kodiak on the east to Atkha and Attou on
the west, and including Saint Matthew’s and the Seal Islands on the north, this beautiful bird is
found to be one of the most frequent species. The delicately blended grays and browns, with the
lovely roseate wash over nearly all the body, renders it the richest in color and most attractive
species found in this region. In addition to being the northernmost of its limited number of con-
geners, it is also the giant among its relatives; as well it may be to endure the harsh climate where it
has made its home. Much to the writer’s regret, although he made special effort to find this bird
during both his visits to Ounalaska, a hasty glimpse of a single individual flitting along the rugged
face of a cliff near the shore in May, 1877, was the only one seen. Nearly every other naturalist
who has visited this locality has secured specimens and records it as one of the commonest birds.
Even the long, harsh winter is not able to make these elegant finches seek a milder climate, but
amid the whirling snows and desolate scenes of these forbidding islands they make their per-
manent home. In summer, among the long grasses and other plants, this bird is to be found
rendering pleasant the scenes where in winter it alone breaks the dull, cheerless monotony. It is
totally unknown on the mainland of either continent, but has near relatives on the American
shores, and it appears to be a form strictly limited to this peculiar chain of islands. Although it
winters on the Aleutian islands it is only known as a summer resident to the north on the Seal and
Saint Matthew’s Islands.
4
ZEGIOTHUS CANESCENS EXILIPES (Coues) Ridgw.
(32.) THE WHITE-RUMPED RED POLL.
All along the coast of Bering Sea, on the Alaskan shore, from the Peninsula of Alaska north
to Point Barrow, as well as upon the islands in Bering’s Strait and across to the adjoining shore
of Asia, this is perhaps the most abundant of all the land birds. Their nests are placed
indifferently in bushes and tufts of grass, or a hole in a piece of drift wood on the barren shore
serves as a building site. This and the following species intergrade in many instances, so that it
is difficult to separate them accurately. My reasons for keeping the two forms separate are given
in full in a complete list of the birds of the territory now in preparation. Over all the polar lands
of America, Europe, and Asia, as well as in Greenland, we find both forms of this handsome little
bird giving animation to many of the otherwise lonely and barren spots. In summer he is usually
engaged in rearing his one or two broods of dull-plumaged young and preparing them for the
trying experiences they will necessarily face a few months later, when the sun draws his short bow
across the southern sky, and long, frosty nights make the very earth crack under the lowering
temperature. At this season the stars seem each to hang from the firmament by an invisible cord
and twinkle clear and bright overhead. The sharp, querulous yelp of the white fox alone breaks
the intense stillness. A white, frosty fog hangs in the air—the chilled breath of nature—which
falls silently to the ground in the lovely crystal handiwork of northern genii. In the north a pale
auroral arch moves its mysterious banners and the rounding bosom of the earth, silent and chill
under its white mantle, looks dreary and sad. After such a night the sun seems to creep
reluctantly above the horizon, as though loath to face the bitter cold. The smoke rises slowly and
heavily in the fixed atmosphere, and warm rooms are doubly appreciated. Soon small troops of
these little red polls come silently about the houses, their feathers puffed out and looking gloomy
enough as they search silently among the dead weeds for food. An hour or two later they catch
the fuller rays of the sun and become more cheerful and flit busily about, though they are far from
showing the character which becomes them so well and which later in the season they reveal under
the brightening rays of the sun in early spring-time, towards the last of March and first of April.
Then indeed we learn the true worth of our happy companions. They come flitting about the
houses on all sides, examining the bare spots on the ground, searching the old weeds and fences,
clinging to the eaves, and even coming to the window sills, whence they peer saucily in, making
68 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN.
themselves continually at home and receiving a hearty welcome for their cheering presence. The
breast is now a beautiful peach blossom pink and the crown shining scarlet. How this bird came
to bear these beautiful colors is told in one of the Indian myths which is deemed of sufficient
interest to relate; and, after the manner of the tales of our childhood, it begins thus:
Very long ago the whole of mankind were living in cheerless obscurity. Endless night hid
the face of the world, aud men were without the power of making a fire, as all the fire of the world
was in the possession of a ferocious bear living in a far-off country to the north. This bear
guarded his charge with unceasing vigilance, and so frightful was his appearance that no man
dared attempt to obtain any of the precious substance. While the poor Indians were sorrowing
over their misfortunes, the Red Poll, which at that time was a plain little wood-sparrow, dressed
in ordinary dull brown, heard their plaint—for in those days men and beasts understood one
another—and his heart was touched. He prepared himself for a long journey and set out toward
the lodge of the cruel bear. After many adventures on the long road which he traversed between
his starting-point and the object of his journey, he at length reached the place and by a successful
ruse stole a living ember from the perpetual fire which glowed close under the breast of the savage
guardian and flew away with it in his beak. The glow of the coal was reflected from his breast
and crown, while his forehead became slightly burned. Far away he flew and finally arrived
safely at the home of mankind and was received with great rejoicing. He gave the fire to the
thankful people and told them to guard it well; and as he did so they noticed the rich glow on
his breast and brow, and said, “‘ Kind bird, wear forever that beautiful mark as a memento of what
you have done for us;” and to this day the Red Poll wears this badge in proof of the legend, as all
may see, and mankind has ever since had fire.
ZEGIOTHUS LINARIA (Linn.) Caban.
(33.) THE ComMoN RED POLL.
This, like the preceding bird, is found along the entire shore line of Bering Sea, with the excep-
tion of the Seal Islands and a portion of the Aleutian chain. It breeds in abundance wherever found,
but is especially numerous along the shore from Norton to Kotzebue Sound; and wherever we
landed from the Corwin, like the preceding, this bird was also found. The former, however, appears
to be the predominating form, but the two occupy the same breeding range in this portion of their
habitat, thus undoubtedly arguing for the distinctness of the two species. We found it with the
preceding at East Cape, Siberia, Point Barrow, and at nearly every place where we landed. In
winter they band together in flocks and seek the sheltered woodlands toward the interior, where in
bushy ravines and on sheltered hill-sides they are found on every hand. During mild weather
they make excursions to the coast and more exposed portions of the country, ready to disappear
at the approach of an unfavorable change. Some of them, like the preceding, remain to winter
along the sea-coast, but only a small proportion of the number which is found in summer. Many
doubtless migrate to more southern localities, as they are nowhere found so abundant at this season
as during summer. Although not mentioned by Nordenskidld as occurring at his winter quarters,
yet this bird is known to exist throughout the range of the entire cireumpolar mainlands of both
continents and many of the adjacent islands, rendering it certain that it is found in that portion of
Siberia as well as elsewhere. On Herald and Wrangel Islands none of them were seen, owing
doubtless to the scanty vegetation on these barren islands not affording requisite shelter and
hospitality to tempt them to cross the icy sea and remain on these forbidding shores.
PLECTROPHANES NIVALIS (Linn.) Myer.
(34.) THE SNow BUNTING.
In the north, the range and abundance of this species in summer is to a great extent comple-
mentary to that of the succeeding species. Along the more rugged parts of the coast, on rocky
and barren islands and the bare and desolate shores of the Arctic Ocean, wherever explorers have
gone they have found these birds before them. The desolate hill-tops of Saint Lawrence Island,
CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 69
the bare weather-worn sides of the mountains surrounding Plover Bay and East Cape, Siberia;
the rocky wind-swept islands in Bering Strait, as well as the lonely shores of Herald and Wrangel
Islands, and the shingle-strewn beaches along the north coast of Asia and Alaska all appear
to be chosen as the favorite summer homes of this bird. When we landed at any of these places
we were certain to be greeted by the clear, sharp note of the Snow Bunting, which would be
seen running busily aout searching for food or wheeling about from place to place, its sharply
contrasted black and white plumage quickly attracting the eye and usually the first sign of life.
On the mountain sides at Plover Bay its mellow note was heard on June 26, uttering the long, clear,
and rather hard song, full of a wild and exhilarating melody fitted to the surroundings. This song
consists of four or five clear whistling notes, shorter than the song of the Long Spur, ani uttered
from a rocky point or the top of some jutting ledge. At Saint Lawrence Island, on June 24, we
found them common and nesting, and some native children showed us anest about 100 yards back
of their huts. This nest contained one egg, which was obtained, with the female. After the latter
was shot the male kept flying about our heads, or from rock to rock close by, and continually
uttering a loud p-cher, p-cher, p-cher, p-cher, in such a plaintive tone that I was glad when we
were out of ear-shot. As long as we remained in the vicinity this bird followed us from place to
place, hovering about, not taking the slighest notice of his rifled nest after the female was shot.
He showed by his actions that he was fully aware of our having his mate in our possession.
I do not remember ever having seen a bird show such affectionate solicitude for his mate as was
exhibited on this occasion. ;
As we landed upon the shore of Wrangel Island, on August 12, were found a pair of these birds,
with their full-grown young, upon the beach, and a number of others we found nesting upon Herald
Island. This bird arrived at Tapkan on April 23, 1879, according to Nordenskidld, and it is known
to breed commonly on Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla, as well as throughout the Aleutian Islands
and wherever the Arctic coasts to the north of Continental America have been visited.
CENTROPHANES LAPPONICUS (Linn.) Caban.
(35.) Tort LAPLAND LONG SPUR.
One of the most numerous among the summer residents of the Alaskan mainland, but occurs
more sparingly on the adjacent islands and along the shores of Asia. This bird generally
frequents portions of the coast least sought by the preceding. Its northern range appears
to be limited, and we do not find it either on Wrangel or Herald Island, although on the
mainland of Alaska it extends to Point Barrow, where full-grown young were seen in August. It
is much more numerous on the Alaskan shore than on the adjoining Asiatic coast. It breeds
commonly upon Saint Lawrence Isiand, but is uncommon at Plover Bay, on the Asiatic shore, only
about ninety miles distant. There are flats and other places there which appear suitable as local
habitations, yet the birds were not found.
The Long Spur occurs in the greatest numbers on the grassy and moss-covered stretches of
level or rolling tundra along the American coast. It was found sparingly along the north
shore of Asia, where grassy flats afford suitable retreats; but everywhere along the American
coast the bird appears to be a very common summer resident, and most plentiful where the full
harshness of the arctic summer was not felt. Along the shores of Norton and Kotzebue Sounds,
where the seasons are comparatively mild, it is found in greatest abundance. Thousands
of the birds appear on every hand as one strolls about during the breeding season, and in
early spring, at the commencement of mating, the air is filled with music. During the
winter the Long Spur is not found in the country north of the Aleutian Islands, in which
latter region, however, the bird is a permanent resident. Although the Long Spur apparently
favors a milder or subarctic portion of the continent, it ranges far to the north, as is shown by
being found nesting upon Spitzbergen, southern portions of Nova Zembla, and other far northern
lands. Its southern breeding range in Alaska appears to be along the Aleutian chain, where it
has been found raising its young, by Mr. Dall and others.
70 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN.
PASSERCULUS SANDWICHENSIS (Gmel.) Baird.
(36.) THE SANDWICH SOUND SPARROW.
On the Aleutian Islands this is a common summer resident, and thence east and south along
the Alaskan shore it is also common. It has not been recorded from the Seal Islands, hence its
northern range appears to be limited to this chain of islands and the adjoining coast as given..
During the migrations it is found along the coast as far south as Oregon and Washington Terri-
tories, but its breeding limit in this region is still unknown. Throughout the northern part of its
range it is known to breed, and we found it as late as October, 1881, at Ounalaska, and it arrived
at this place the first of May, 187%, Some probably remain the entire winter, but the majority
pass farther south. Its habits are like those of its congeners, keeping to the grassy flats and the
shore close along the water’s edge, where a portion of its food is gleaned. This also is one of the
several cases in which the Aleutian Islands and adjoining region furnish a stouter, longer billed
bird than is found in the closely allied forms of the mainland. Among these may be named
Melospiza cinerea, Leucosticte grisienucha, and the Kodiak Aegiothii and Pinicola, in addition to the
case in hand, as showing some of the most striking instances of this peculiarity.
PASSERCULUS SANDWICHENSIS ALANDINUS (Bp.) Ridgw.
(37.) THE WESTERN SAVANNA SPARROW.
All along the coast of Bering Sea, at least to Point Hope and probably to Point Barrow, this
is a common bird, especially along the coast between the Alaskan Peninsula and Kotzebue Sound.
Wherever the open moist stretches of comparatively level country afford suitable haunts, it is
found in large numbers. Although anthinus has been recorded from Saint Michael’s and the
Yukon region, it is owing to an erroneous identification, as is shown by an examination of the
specimens upon which this claim was based, all of which are referable to Alandinus. Anthinus is
strictly limited to the coast of California and is unknown to the north of this region. On the
contrary alandinus breeds far to the north, extending its breeding range inside the Arctic Circle,
and its southern range in summer does not appear to encroach on that of anthinus. In winter,
however, it is found passing south and mingling with its relatives in the coast region of California.
ZONOTRICHIA GAMBELI INTERMEDIA Ridgw.
(38.) THE INTERMEDIATE WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW.
Along the Alaskan Coast, north of the Aliaskan Peninsula to Kotzebue Sound, the White-
crowned Sparrow is a rather common summer visitor and nests in many places. It is one of the
most musical birds that reaches these high latitudes along the coast. With the opening spring
and appearance of the first flowers comes this handsome songster, whose charming notes and
familiar presence about the houses render it an agreeable accompaniment of spring. The last
of May, it appears in the vicinity of Saint Michael’s, and, taking the wood pile or some other
convenient spot for its stage, sings at intervals during the entire day. Pleasant frosty mornings
particularly are enlivened by the notes of this bird, and I recall with pleasure the feeling of
exhilaration always produced by its song which seemed to form a part of the clear, fresh, frosty
atmosphere and the brightening face of nature. For a week or so after the bird’s arrival its
familiar presence is joyfully proclaimed by notes from the places mentioned, after which it
quits the vicinity of man for the sheltering thickets on the hillside, where it performs the duties
of the season. A few weeks later, during the last of July or the first of August, it is ready
to come about the houses again, a memory of the good things found there early in the season
serving to draw the bird from all sides. The weed patches and grassy knolls in the vicinity of the
Fort or the native village are filled with these birds, and with their young they wax fat and saucy
upon the fare before them. The young frequently come into the court yard and make themselves
thoroughly at home; and, if the truth be told, now and then one falls a victim to misplaced confi-
dence, and, in the shape of a dried mummy, travels to distant parts of the world, where, among a
host of his ilk, he reposes as a specimen. In autumn old and young alike have but the ordinary
CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 71
chirp common to a host of their kind at this season, and they carry with them but little of the
interest attending their spring advent. In thelower Mackenzie River region and to the east these
are abundant birds, and are said to render the twilight hours of night during the short summer
melodious with their songs. Richardson often complained of their disturbing his rest by their
persistent singing while he was journeying down this river. On the Aleutian and other islands of
Bering Sea and the Asiatic Coast this is an unknown bird. It is the only form of white-crowned
sparrow found in the territory of Alaska and throughout the North. The common bird of the
Eastern United States does not reach these high latitudes.
ZONOTRICHIA CORONATA (Pall.) Baird.
(39.) THE GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW.
A rather rare summer visitant on the shores of Norton Sound, where it breeds. Its favorite
haunts are the same as those of the preceding species. In the fall young and old consort with
intermedia again on the feeding ground about the houses. Upon the Aleutian and other islands
in Bering Sea this bird is unknown, nor have I any record of it along the coast north of Norton
Sound.
SPIZELLA MONTANA (Forst.) Ridgw.
(40.) THE TREE SPARROW.
This is perhaps the commonest species of Sparrow frequenting the bushes along the Northern
Alaskan Coast. It arrives early in May, or even the last days of April, upon the shores of
Norton Sound, and, like the White-crowned Sparrow, announces its presence by first appearing
about human habitations. At this time it especially favors such weed patches as have withstood
the storms of winter; the convenient shelter thus formed making a favorite gathering place,
where the lisping chirp of the Tree Sparrow can be heard at all times, and from which they make
excursions to the garden spot by the kitchen or come into the yard. They are always timorous,
however, and ready to dive into the fastnesses of their lurking place at the first alarm. Before
the snow has left the thickets where they make their nests, they have taken possession as if in
anxiety to commence their housekeeping. In the course of time the snow disappears; the sturdy
alders begin to open their buds and take on a shade of green, while about their roots busy family
groups are at work upon the soft grassy nest, which soon contains their pretty complement o
eggs. All goes well, unless some wandering naturalist breaks rudely in upon the happy pair and
leaves a scene of ruin behind.
Early in July the parents have a brood of full-grown young, which they straightway introduce
to the vicinity of the houses, where we soon find them in full possession of the outworks of the
Fort and ready to join in friendly companionship with the White-crowns and young Lapland
Long Spurs. The motley crew associate in the most congenial way during this season of plenty,
and a plebeian crew they make, all clad in dingy browns and dull buffy grays, each apparently
without an object in life but to gorge himself on the abundance of food which the plants begin to
shower down. Ere long, however, the cold storms of autumn announce the approach of winter
and send many of the more sensitive off to a milder climate. September passes, the frosts and
cold are more severe, and as this month ends and October begins the last of the gormands pass
on to a sunnier clime.
This species breeds on the shores of Kotzebue Sound, as far north as bushes are found. I
have no record of its occurrence on the adjacent Siberian shore, although it is undoubtedly found
on the Chukchi Peninsula. It can searcely be expected to occur upon any of the islands in
Bering Sea from their bleak and unsuitable character.
JUNCO HYEMALIS (Linn.) Scl.
(41.) THE BLACK Snow BIrp.
This is perhaps the most uncommon sparrow found upon the American shore of Bering Sea,
and can be noted merely as a straggler from the interior of pretty regular occurrence in spring.
(2 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN.
It is rarely seen more than two or three times during the season at Saint Michael’s, although at the
Yukon mouth it is rather more common. It breeds at this latter location in small numbers, and
is also found sparingly in the vicinity of Kotzebue Sound and Norton Bay, as specimens brought
me from those localities by natives indicate. It is unknown from the Asiatic Shore to the
islands of Bering Sea.
MELOSPIZA CINEREA (Gm.) Ridgw.
(42.) THE ALEUTIAN Sone SPARROW.
Among the several peculiar birds found on the Aleutian Chain this is one of the most
remarkable. It forms the giant among its kin, and would scarcely be connected with its eastern
relative by one not familiar with the links in the chain which unite them. It extends its range
from the westernmost of the Aleutians east to Kodiak Island. It has been described under various
names by the older naturalists, who secured it during the Russian occupation of the territory;
but, as in many other instances, the most of our knowledge of its life history and distribution is
mainly the result of work done since the country changed owners.
During a brief residence at Ounalaska, in the Aleutian Islands, in May, 1877, I became somewhat
familiar with the habits of this bird at that season, and during the stay of the Corwin at the same
place, in the fall of 1881, I was pleased to renew the acquaintanceship at another season. They
were common in both seasons, and frequented in autumn, as in spring, the vicinity of the shore,
with a preference for jutting craggy points, where great masses of rock lie at the water’s edge or
the rugged slope of the cliff reaches out into the bay. It is the habit of this bird to hop from rock
to rock and scramble about along their inclined faces searching for their food close to the water’s
edge, where it feasts on the small marine animals stranded by the falling water or living there
between the tide-lines. The male frequently mounts to the top of some convenient point and
utters his short, rather hard, but pleasant song. This song consists of several loud, hard notes,
the first two the clearest and most musical, the others rather harsh. As might be expected from
the size of the bird, the song is stronger and louder than that of its eastern relative, the familiar
song sparrow. During the entire time of our stay at Ounalaska, in September and October, 1881,
the males showed their appreciation every pleasant day by passing a considerable portion of their
time upon the roof of the warehouse at the wharf or other conspicuous position elsewhere, uttering
their song at short intervals. This warehouse stood beside the wharf to which we were moored,
and the passing to and fro of the men handling cargo or attending to other duty made a scene of
bustling activity. In spite of this the bird was sure to be found whenever the weather favored.
At other times he could be found, with one or two companions, searching the sandy beach close by
for food.
PASSERELLA ILIACA (Merrem) Gm.
(43.) THE Fox-COLORED SPARROW.
Common in summer along the coast of Norton Sound, and extends its range north to the shores
of Kotzebue Sound. Its loud, clear song rises from every patch of alders of any size along this
stretch of coast, and the birds upon their first arrival, about the last of May, come boldly about
the dwellings, uttering their loud, clear song from the roofs of the outhouses and other convenient
stand-points. At the Yukon mouth it is very common, and I found its song one of the most musical
and striking among the very scanty feathered choir which announces the advent of summer at that
remote place. It is unknown from any of the islands in Bering’s Sea, as well as from the Asiatic
shore. Its range extends within the interior of the Arctic Circle, although the lack of bushes along
the coast limits its occurrence except on the shores of the two sounds named.
PASSERELLA ILIACA (Gm.) Ridgw.
(44.) TOWNSEND’S SPARROW.
This species is admitted here solely by reason of the identification of Gmelin’s Emberezia a
oonalascensis as this bird. One thing is certain, and that is that since Gmelin’s type no specimen
of this bird has been secured at Ounalaska, although numerous nuturalists have visited that locality
CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN, 73
and paid special attention to its ornithology. Neither has the bird been found on any of the
eastern islands of the chain, which renders its occurrence here still more improbable. Melospiza
cinerea occurs here, however, in three distinct plumages, one of which answers fairly to the very
insufficient description given by Gmelin. The nearest place where Passerella townsendi has been
taken is on the Shumaginu Islands, south of the Peninsula of Aliaska. Of necessity the question
of the exact application of Gmelin’s naine must remain a matter of individual opinion; but in view
of the bird in question not having been taken on the Island of Ounalaska or any of the neighboring
ones, it seems but fair to consider the chance of his description applying to one of the plumages of
M. cinerea. I allow the name to remain, as Mr. Ridgway proposes, from the fact that there is
little possibility of proving the question for one side or the other, but deplore the utilizing of old
names, as in this instance, where there is such opportunity for error.
ICTERIDA. BLACKBIRDS.
SCOLECOPHAGUS FERRUGINEUS (Gm.) Swains.
(45.) THe Rusty BLACKBIRD.
Along the eastern shore of Bering Sea, both in the spring and autumn migrations, this bird
is frequently seen. It nests commonly at the mouths of the Yukon and Kuskoquim, as low down
as the growth of bushes affords proper shelter. It isa common summer resident in suitable places
about the Kotzebue Sound region, extending its nesting area far within the circle. It arrives at
Saint Michael’s about the middle of May and leaves the coast region about the last of August or
first of September. It is unknown on the islands of Bering Sea and on the Asiatic coast.
CORVIDA. CROWS, RAVENS.
CORVUS CORAX CARNIVORUS (Bartr.) Ridgw.
(46.) THE AMERICAN RAVEN.
This bird is found abundant in many places, and is more or less common everywhere on the
islands and about the shores of this region. On the Aleutian Islands it is perhaps in its greatest
abundance, and is remarkably familiar, frequenting the roofs of houses and the open ground
immediately in front of them, with as little regard for the presence of man as might be expected
from the ordinary barn-yard fowl. Even in this place, however, it keeps its weather eye out for
the deadly gun, and the moment one appears with this implement in his hand the ravens become
remarkably scarce in that immediate vicinity. Their curious evolutions high in the air, preceding
and during a storm, are curious to witness, and they are one of the most striking features to a
new-comer in the islands. Upon the Seal Islands the crow is unaccountably absent, though it is
familiar on all the other islands of Bering Sea. The Siberian and American coast alike are
frequented by it both summer and winter. Nordenskidld found crows wintering in the vicinity of
the Vega, on the Arctic coast, and during my winter journeys along the Alaskan coast I found
them everywhere, though less numerous at this season than during the summer.
PICA RUSTICA HUDSONICA (Scop.) Baird,
(47.) THE BLACK-BILLED MAGPIE.
At the head of Bristol Bay this bird has been taken on a few occasions, and this, so far as my
knowledge extends, limits the range of the-bird on the coast of Bering Sea, although it is found in
the interior much farther north.
PERISOREUS CANADENSIS FUMIFRONS Ridgw.
(48.) THE SMOKY-FRONTED JAY.
In the interior this bird is one of the most common residents, and stray individuals wander to the
shore of the Arctic and Bering Sea from Aliaska Peninsula north to the shore of Kotzebue Sound.
H. Ex. 105——10
74 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN.
They are generally found about the mouths of streams, whose bushy borders afford them the sheltered
highway which their skulking instinct leads them to favor. The only specimen I ever saw close
to salt water was on the shore of Bering Sea, at Cape Romanzoff. We had camped at this cape the
night before and were just leaving it as a heavy sea began to run. Pushing off, we had gained a
few yards from shore when an odd note caused us to look back, and there, perched on a small bush,
close by the remains of our camp fire, stood one of these birds uttering his ludicrous cries, as if
making sport of us for not finding him earlier. The waves rendered the landing so dangerous that
we were obliged to leave the bird in possession, and whenever I recall the scene at this camp the
foreground in the mental picture is occupied by the serio-comic attitude of this bird as he flirted
his tail and mocked us from his safe vantage-ground.
ALANDIDA. SKYLARKS.
EREMOPHILA ALPESTRIS LUCOLZIMA Coues.
(49.) THE WHITE-THROATED SHORE LARK.
This bird occurs very rarely on the coast of Bering Sea. I secured a single specimen at Saint
Michael’s—the first of May—and one or two others have been taken in that vicinity, besides which
I have no record of its occurrence anywhere within the region under discussion. The numerous
visits made by ornithologists to these shores, during the last few years, and the scarcity of this
bird in their collections prove it to be a great rarity in this region, both on the American and
Siberian shores. Farther to the eastward, in the interior, the bird is more common, but is still
rare, until the farther interior pf the continent is reached. All the Alaskan specimens examined
are referable to the name heading this article, and it is presumable that shore larks from
Northeastern Siberia would be referable to the same. It is not known to occur on the Aleutian
or any of the other islands in Bering Sea. It has been found nesting as far north of the old world
as Nova Zembla and Spitzbergen; but it was not seen by us on the shores of Wrangel or Herald
Islands nor on the adjacent Siberian coast.
TYRANNIDA. FLYCATCHERS.
EMPIDONAX PUSILLUS (Swains.) Bd.
(50.) THe LITTLE FLYCATCHER.
Two specimens of this bird, obtained by me at Saint Michael’s in the spring, are the only
ones found on the shore of Bering Sea. They add very considerably to the bird’s known range.
PICIDAH. WOODPECKERS.
PICUS PUBESCENS Linn.
(51.) THE DowNy WOODPECKER.
The Downy Woodpecker, a common species in the interior of Alaska, makes frequent
visits to the sea-shore in the north, especially during the spring and fall. It is then found about
the alder patches, and rarely visits the houses. I obtained a number of specimens from the
flagstaff and sides of the storehouse at Saint Michael’s, during my residence there. It is more
numerous at the mouths of the larger rivers, as the Yukon and Kuskoquim. Here the close
approach of the wooded interior to the coast renders its presence common, and it even nests close
to the sea-coast in the bushes on the lower Yukon. It is not known from any island of Bering
Sea nor from the Siberian coast, but is found in the alders about Kotzebue Sound at times.
COLAPTES AURATUS (Linn.) Sw.
(52.) THE YELLOW-SHAFTED FLICKER.
This is a still more uncommon bird on the shore of Bering Sea. It approaches the coast about
the head of Norton Sound, and in rare instances on Kotzebue Sound. During the winter of 1878,
CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. €5
I obtained a skin from a native on the coast near Bering Straits, and was informed that the bird
occurred there rarely in summer, and that it nested regularly among the scattered forests a short
distance in the interior. It is unknown elsewhere in the region under discussion.
ALCEDINIDA. KINGFISHERS.
CERYLE ALCYON (Linn.) Boie.
(53.) THE BELTED KINGFISHER.
Although a not uncommon resident in the interior, along the numerous water courses, this
bird is extremely rare on the sea-coast. A single specimen was brought in by a native from the
shore near the mouth of a small river to the north of Saint Michael’s, and I heard of its capture at
one or two other places on the shore of Norton Sound. Elsewhere I do not know of its occurence,
although it is likely to be found about Bristol Bay and perhaps the shores of Kotzebue Sound,
where several fresh-water streams occur.
STRIGIDA. OWLS.
ASIO ACCIPITRINUS (Pall.) Newton.
(54.) Toe SHORT-EARED OWL.
Along the entire Aleutian chain and thence north along the mainland of Alaska to Point Bar-
row this bird isfound. As asummer resident on the Aleutian Islands, Dall found it rather com-
mon and found it nesting in burrows on the hillsides. In May, 1877, I found a pair of short-eared
owls near Unalaska frequenting the hillsides and becoming very active after sunset. Several times
while hunting, at this time of day, I disturbed the birds and found them extremely shy, so much so
that they would take flight a hundred yards or more in advance, uttering at the same time a loud
rolling cry. During the several years succeeding this I found they arrived the last of May or first
of June along the coast of Alaska to the north, where they are summer residents and at times
quite numerous. There is no record of the bird from the islands in Bering Sea, with the exception
of the Aleutian chain, though its well known wandering habits undoubtedly take it to them at
times. Neither is it recorded from the adjacent coast of Siberia, but its range extends through
this region. On the Alaskan coast of the Arctic it is found nearly if not quite to Point Barrow.
ULULA CINEREA (Gmel.) Bp.
(55.) THE GREAT GRAY OWL.
This fine Owl can be reckoned as a very rare visitant to the shores of Bering Sea, its prefer-
ence for wooded country limiting its range to those parts of the interior where spruce and other
trees afford it congenial shelter. Stray individuals occur at times along the shores of Norton
Sound, where the near approach of the forests to the sea along the banks of the various streams
flowing into the sound afford it a convenient highway. As might be inferred from the lack of
timber, it is a.totally unknown species on all the islands of Bering Sea, and I do not think it is
found on the opposite Siberian coast, unless by accident, as the following species vists the Alaskan
shore.
ULULA CINEREA LAPPONICA (Retz.) Ridgw.
(56.) THe LAPLAND OWL.
But a single instance is known of this bird’s occurrence in the region covered by this paper
and the only American record as well. This record rests upon a specimen secured some years
since by L. M. Turner at Saint Michael’s, Norton Sound. It is a well-known species in the wooded
parts of North Europe and Siberia and only occurs on the bare, forbidding coast country as a
stray wanderer,
16 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN.
NYCTALE TEGMALMI.
(57.) TEGMALMW’S OWL.
This old-world form of the Northern Sparrow Owl claims admittance to the North American
fauna by the capture of a single individual near Saint Michael’s, Alaska, by Mr. L. M. Turner,
beyond which there is no other record of it on our shores. It is found throughout Northern
Siberia wherever woodland occurs, and like the Lapland Owl reaches the open coast by merest
chance, its preference being for the sheltering forests of the interior.
NCYTALE TEGMALMI RICHARDSONI (Bp.) Ridgw.
(58.) RICHARDSON’S OWL.
This Owl, although a bird of the wooded interior, also ranges along the bushy borders of the
various water courses and reaches the shores of Bering Sea and Kotzebue Sound at rare and
irregular intervals. It is well known to the natives, who called it ‘‘The Blind Owl,” because it
cannot see well during the day-time and is easily caught alive by the hand. In the interior it
becomes quite numerous, and on the lower Yukon nests as low down as the vicinity of Kotlik,
whence I have a set of its eggs. The bird is found resident here though only a few miles to the
sea-coast. But this is exceptional, as elsewhere the surroundings are not favorable for its presence.
The natives of the interior (Indians) catch this bird, tie a small piece of dried fish to its back, and
and let it go, claiming they will thus secure good fortune in the hunt and in other matters.
BUBO VIRGINIAANUS SUBARCTICUS (Hoy) Ridgw.
(59.) [THE NORTHWESTERN HORNED OWL.
Among the Owls which pay occasional visits to the coast of Bering Sea in Alaska, as well as
to the southern portion of its arctic shores, this bird may be reckoned as the most common.
Searcely an autumn passes but a number of individuals are seen occupying conspicuous places on
piles of drift wood or other prominent places along the shore in the vicinity of Saint Michael’s and
thence north where it is well known to the natives. Occasionally it becomes bold enough to
frequent the vicinity of the houses, but this rarely occurs. Like the preceding owls, with the
exception of the first mentioned, this is unknown on any of the Bering Sea islands. It is also
unknown from the Asiatic shore, so far as any records which I have seen go to show.
NYCTEA SCANDIACA (Linn.) Newt.
(60.) THE SNowy OWL.
From the Kuskoquim mouth, north along the entire Alaskan coast, as also on the northern
islands in Bering Sea, the Siberian coast of this sea, and on the coast of the Arctic, this is a
resident bird, perhaps most numerous in winter along the Arctic coast. It is not uncommon in
summer to see this owl perched along the brow of the cliffs fronting the shore to the north of
Kotzebue Sound. It is found to be extremely shy even in these far-off regions, and it is almost
impossible to approach within rifle shot. As we landed upon Wrangel Island and ascended the
slope of the hill rising from the beach one of these birds arose over 200 yards in advance and made
off as though his experience of mankind had been anything but agreeable; yet it is certain that his
habitation at that time had never before been disturbed by man. During some seasons, when the
lemming abounds at any particular point, this bird becomes correspondingly numerous and preys
upon this small rodent. At times, however, it attacks and kills the northern hare, and is one of
the most dreaded enemies of the ptarmigan. In winter it glides on noiseless wing close along the
surface of the snow, its white plumage blending so completely with the white landscape that it is
followed with the greatest difficulty by the eye; ever and anon it vanishes and reappears like a
shadow, as it takes its course along the shore or over the open country.
CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. if}
SWINIA FUNEREA (Linn.) Rich. & Sw.
(61.) THE AMERICAN HAWK-OWL.
Like most of the wood-frequenting birds, this is also a rare visifant to the sea-coast of Bering
Sea and Kotzebue Sound, where it occurs at intervals in the fall and spring. I secured a fine
specimen from the top of the flag-staff at Saint Michael’s, where it sat looking down upon the people
moving about and did not show the slightest sign of fear, until it was brought down with a broken
wing. When approached it threw itself in an attitude of defense and its unquailing eye
commanded one’s admiration for bold and undaunted courage. It occurs in about equal frequency
with the Horned Owl, and is well known to the Eskimo, who confound it to a certain extent with
Richardson’s Owl.
SURNIA FUNEREA ULULA (Linn.) Ridgw.
(62.) THE EUROPEAN HAwk-OWL.
One specimen of this bird has been taken on the Alaskan coast, by L. M. Turner, near Saint
Michael’s, in winter. It is known from the Siberian shore and throughout Northern Siberia,
frequenting the wooded portions of the country, with occasional stray visits to the sea-coast. Both
this and the preceding are totally unknown on the islands of Bering Sea, and of exceeding rarity,
if they occur at all, along the neighboring Arctic coast. The approach of the wooded country
along the Bering Sea shore afford the preceding form more convenient opportunities to reach
the neighborhood of the sea, yet their visits in these places are few and very short.
FALCONIDA. HAWKS.
HIEROFALCO GYRFALCO CANDICAUS (Gm.) Ridgw.
(63.) THE WHITE GYRFALCON.
The winter of 1879 I obtained a single skin of this fine Falcon from a native on the Alaskan
coast near Bering Strait. This is the only instance I have ascertained of its occurrence on our
coast, although Mr. Dall learned from the people at Saint Michael’s, during his residence there,
that the bird occurred at rare intervals; and he adds that a little north of Bering Island one of
these falcons alighted in the rigging of their vessel and remained with them for some time.
HIBROFALCO GYRFALCO SACER (Forst.) Ridgw.
(64.) MACFARLANE’S GYRFALCON.
Although the previous variety is of such rarity on the coast of Bering Sea, the present form is
one of the most abundant birds of prey found in this region.