The Ely miner., 1916-05-05
N INTERESTING account of the
birds observed during trip in
AIa.lxa l,a- Lcax, l,licL cd i,xx

~ Alaska has been published by
the Smithsonian institution, as
reported by F. Seymour Hersey, who
was in the field for A. C. Bent, collect
ing data and photographs for the COM
pletion of the Life Histories of North
American Birds"
Leaving Seattle on the revenue cut
ter Bear, the party steamed northward
through the inside passage" where
the scenery was delightful all the way
to Ketchikan. From that point the
Bear passed through Dixon's entrance
and headed for Unalaska. AS they
neared Unimak pass various members
of the tubinares, or tube-nosed birds,
were noticed, together with sooty
shearwaters, petrels and albatrosses.
AS they approached the pass the num-
ber of birds increased to a point al
most beyond belief. AS far as the eye
could see masses of birds were bedded
on the water; murres and puffins --ere
everywhere. 1T was utterly impossi-
BILE to form any definite estimate of
the number of birds seen," says the
author; hundreds of thousands does
not exaggerate their abundance" The
ship seems to have literally plowed it's
way through them. The Bear lay at
Unalaska three days, during which
time Mr.. Hersey collected number of
species peculiar to that locality.
After touching at St. George and st.
Paul islands, they proceeded on to
Nome, which port the ship did not ac-
tually reach on account of the ice. but
anchored out in the stream and sent
the mail ashore by dog teams.
To the Yukon In Open Boat.
At st. Michael Mr.. Hersey left the
Bear and made arrangements with the
owner of a small open power boat to
carry him and his outfit to the mouth
Of the Yukon river. They went
through the so-called canal between
st. Michael island and the mainland,
but encountered severe storm which
forced them to land and encamp for
three days. Birds were plentiful In
the neighborhood of the camp and Mr..
Hersey employed the time to good ad-
vantage, securing many specimens of
eggs.
Proceeding onward, they arrived at
the mouth of the Yukon and estab-
lished their headquarters at the wire
less station, eight miles from the ma
tive village of Kotlik The country all
around is reported very fiat, making a
safe feeding ground for the little
brown cranes and geese, since it was
impossible to approach them unob-
served. In describing it, Mr. Hersey
says: $50 bare and level Is the coun-
try that a photograph of the river,
taken from the shore, shows the op-
posite bank as nothing but straight
line. such as might be made across the
print with a ruler and a coarse stub
PEN" Here the author remained dur
ing the greater part of the breeding
season. He found pintails and several
species of shorebirds breeding abun-
dainty; gulls, terms and jaegers COM
mon, and redpolls, Alaska yellow wag-
tails, willow ptarmigan and Alaska
longspurs also well represented in this
region.
Delayed In the Ice Off Barrow.
Later in the summer he returned to
Nome and again embarked on the
Bear, which stopped at many points
along the coast, among which were
Golovin bay, Cape Prince of Wales,
Cape Dyer, Point Franklin and Bar
row. Before reaching Barrow they
encountered considerable ice and were
delayed ten days en- route. At Barrow,
the northernmost point of this trip, the
ice conditions were so bad they only
remained long enough to land the
mail and take aboard several men who
had been caught in the ice the pre-
vious season and obliged to winter at