Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-04-25
HEsPERUs OF ARCTIC.
The Wreck Of the Thaycr Expedition.
Whose Collections, However, Are
Safe.

L w
Island is reported on only too good
authority to be wrecked on the deco
lated ice-ridden coast of Siberia north
of Behring Straits. The leader of the
expedition, John koren, is known II,
be saved, but nothing so far is known
of the other members. The specimens
obtained by two years struggle with
the Arctic ice and the stress of a win.
ter close to the boreal pole are left be-
hind, but have been cached and may
be fortunately saved by another ex-
petition which is now on its way or
by the return of the dauntless leader
in another craft. Such is the unfortu-
nate latest chapter in the story of i
peculiarly picturesque expedition .
the far north.
The Thayer expedition was hot Il
polar expedition in the ordinary sense
of the word. yet it dared all the dan
gers of the Arctic ice and of winter
| in the extreme north. conditions as
daunting and as dangerous as am
| which Peary or Amundsen undertook
to Meet. In the spring of 1911 the lit
tie auxiliary schooner Kittiwake SET
forth from Seattle. The boat was one
of those pygmy trading schoonecs
/
/ Pacific on all it's borders, yet which
rarely attempt anything so far north
as this expedition called for. The
kittiwake was only forty-five feet
| long, schooner rugged and fitted with
an auxiliary propeller turned by
gasoline engine. With Captain koren
| went four Norwegian sailors and in
Behring Sea two Esslzimos completed
the crew. The plan was to 60 north
through Behring Straits, then set the
course northwest some four hundred
miles to Wrangel Island, reaching this
almost unknown far Arctic point in
time to set up winter quarters before
the ice closed in. In the spring the
expedition would study the ayifauna
of the island and make such collec-
lions as possible of the nests. eggs and
skins of two birds both of which are
very rare. The first of these is the
spoon billed sandpiper the second the
surf bird. These of course were TO be
Just the chief prizes. Beyond them
lay countless other opportunities for
rare and valuable birds and mammals.
koren was a good leader for the ex.
petition. He is a skilled navigator.
has collected in the north before and
is hardy Norwegian sailor and
whaleman.
Yet the expedition Of the little As
foot schooner was one which parallels
in audacity the work of the early ex-
plorers. Here was no ice-breaking
steamer. but a tiny vessel which, save
for the doubtful value of its gasoline
engine and propeller, was not much
stauncher, and indeed not SO large as
her shippers Morse ancestors sailed i'll
out of Norway of old for exploration
of Greenland and the shores of north
ern America. And surely no exped.-
ton into the far north ever went on So
strange a quest, the skins and eggs CT
two birds that are not much bigger
than a mans thumb. Since the ex-
petition started, the nests and eggs of
the spoon billed sandpiper have been
obtained for Mr.. Thayer's museum
through the Kleinschmidt expedition.
which obtained them in the neighbor-
hood of East Cape. Siberia. But. un-
less Captain Koren now has them the
| nest and eggs of the surf-bird have
never been discovered.
The qeustion might be asked. why
all this expense and danger for just :.
bird or two but the spoon billed
plover is one of the rarest and most
peculiar birds known. tempting prize
to so enthusiastic an ornithologist as
Mr.. John E. Thayer, who financed the
| expedition and whose Lancaster bird
museum is known the country over rs
containing the most complete collec-
ton of American birds now in exist
ence. Mr. Thayer has collectors out
after rare specimens the world over.
| To equip and send forth an Arctic en-
| petition for spoon-billed plover Is to
| him quite in the ordinary course ef
events.
Eurynorhynchus pygmeus is not
much longer than it's name. one oi the
little web-footer phalaropes which arc
so common on Arctic shores Baron
4 Nordenskjold in his story OF the voy-
age of the Vega in these seas speaks
of them as swimming in hocks among
the ice cakes, but not THIS variety.
Nordenskjold saw the spoon piiied
plover, however. He says OF IL, Ihe
singular spoon-billed sandpiper vas DIT
one time in spring so common that ~
was twice served at the gun-room
| table, for which after our return nome
| we had to endure severe reproaches
from animal collectors. The bird -
found only in some few museums, i
was first described by Linnaeus IN
1854 and then by Thunberg in the
transactions of the Swedish Academy
of Science in 1916 where it is stated
/ that the home of the bird is in tropi-
cal America" Science has learned
something since Thunbergs day about
the little plover and we now know
that it's home instead OF being IN
| tropical America is in Arctic Asia.
The spoon bill is so called because the
tin of its bill is enlarged and nattenei
into a veritable little spoon-shaped
ARRANGEMENT, one of the strangese
birds bills known.
| OF course other, even hitherto I'M
known, birds and animals may be
found on this great Arctic island,
whose extent is considerable it being
a hundred miles long by thirty or
| more broad Especially are the non
migratory species in such place
| likely to show variations. The Wran-
l r.,nu1 v,taryr,iOap for instance, Is