November, i9o2. [ THE CONDOR ?35 01biorchilus hiemalis pacificus. Western Winter Wren. This is the common- est bird in the great redwood forests, where it is thoroughly at home and sings frequently. Humboldt Bay and Crescent City. Cistothorus palustris paludicola. Tule Wren. I found the tule wren in a small open treeless boreal swamp at Crescent City. [Reported from "marshes of Humboldt Co." C.H. Townsend, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. X. 227. ] Certhia familiaris occidentalis. California Creeper. Observed at Humboldt Bay. [Collected at Crescent City. T. S. P.] Parus rufescens. Chestnut-backed Chickadee. A common and characteristic bird of the redwood swamps, more open forest, and thick groves of shore pine close to the coast. The species probably does not breed farther south than the limit of the Sitka spruce. Chama?a fasciata pha?a. Coast Wren-tit. Not uncommon in thick brush close to the coast where it is oftener heard than seen. Hylocichla ustulata. Russet-backed Thrush. An abundant and musical species in the shady moss-hung forests. I also found it in groves of shore pine, within sound of the surf. Humboldt Bay and Crescent City. Ixoreus na?vius. Varied Thrush. This superb bird undoubtedly breeds in the dense redwood forest where I secured a specimen June ii, and again saw one June 28. It is, however, rare and so retiring that it has heretofore escaped de- tection in this region. The specimen, an adult female, is typical ntevius, the back being a rich brown. Merula migratoria propinqua. Western Robin. An abundant breeding bird, Humboldt Bay to Crescent City. Sialia mexicana occidentalis. Western Blue Bird. Not uncommon in cleared land. A List of Birds Collected in Norton Sounds Alaska. BY RICHARD C. MCGREGOR. N June t3, t9 , the Coast and Geodetic Survey steamer t?athfinder left Seattle, Washington, for Norton Sound, Alaska, where she had been de- tailed to make a survey. Our trip up was a quick one. Several days at Dutch Harbor? and a few hours at Nome City were the only stops in our voyage. With the exception of a very few days we were not inconvenienced by rain, fog or wind. As to temperature we found it very agreeable during our whole stay in Norton Sound, from June 2 7 to September 2 5 . From afar the shores of Norton Sound for the most part are uninviting, the great scarcity of trees giving the whole country a desolate appearance. The tundra plain extends a distance of one to three miles from the beach, where it rises on low ranges of hills, barren except for patches of brush aud tundra moss. Viewed at close quarters the tundra is found to support an extensive and varied flora, and to be as full of water as a wet sponge: Along the shore and for several miles east of Thor and extending inland for from one to five miles are thick spruce woods, and just east of Cape Denbigh there is a small patch of the same species. I. Dutch Harbor is a small bay on the eastern side of Amaknak (=Amaguak) which is a small island separated from Unalaska {--Oonalasks? Island by a narrow strait All these names refer to practically the same 1ocahty. I have included m this paper notes on several ?pecies observed at Dutch Harbor, tho they do not belong to Norton Sound.
