Show EDEN aeden FOR FOE N it way 7 bo fod So 1111 along tho of alaska lit la that actually teems with trub bird life lafe streams pilled filled with gaar trout an old hunters alave f ly jy Isper ione 11 br alaska a is chiefly known to the general er d public as the home and dwelling place of tile the fur seal and a place where tourists go during the brief summer to ace ee some of the grandest scenery on this thia continent F ays says the san francisco chronicle to bacak of alaska is to surest ug in frest to the mind a picture of vast glaciers rugged snow capped mountains and impenetrable forests a land of cf desolation and silence now different from this mental picture 16 the reality can only be understood after a trip taken to this land of queer contrasts which will not only cover tile the ground usually traversed by I 1 tourists but extend westward along the beautiful aleutian archipelago C the numerous islands in behring sea and the lee ice girdled shores of the arctic ocean during six months of the year 0 all this region actually teems with life there is not an island or rocky ledge in behring sea which will not hold the observers attention for hours if he be a I 1 lover of nature with the myriads of birds winch which find in the crevices of the cliffs just tile the place to rear their young abst at st george island one of the balov group there is one particular place that never loses its fascination for the student of bird life the northwest end of the island shows chows a perpendicular mural cliff nearly one thousand feet high facing the sea it is shattered 1 and broken into millions of shelf like L projections buttresses and pinnacles I 1 by the action of frost and during the height of the breeding season every little crevice seems to contain a bird j there are arc burres and gulls kitty wakes baags puffins and all the known mem ben of the seabird sea bird families screaming and chattering as if their very lives dei upon making a noise but if the bight of so many birds partially concealed by the rocks is inspiring the exhibition of life and energy is overpowering when as something happens they are disturbed then from the face of this great clift cliff a thousand feet high and over a mile long a cataract of whirring screaming creaming fi shrieking birds pours down and toward the sea filling the air with an indescribable deafening roar and then rising again they form long lines or flight which seem beem like parti colored ribbons girdling the island leaving the ov group and steering cering to the north northwest ivest some two hundred miles milca the next nest land to be seen is st matthews island here too biels abound and as the island is uninhabited by man the birds are free from disturbance except from the natural enemy the fox and an occasional polar bear around the edges of the alt falt F marshes found on the eastern end of st matthews eider ducks are arc found in great numbers the birds are but indifferent flyers and it is one of the s cubiac ac experiences experience of the arctic voyager to fee bee the awkward efforts of the clumsy bird to get out of the way of an approaching steamer they find it extremely et remely difficult to rise from the water aspeck especially oly if were be no wind and nil an approaching vessel causes them to flap noisily along the surface for a ili distance and then as if animated by a single pur purpose hundreds of them will ill dive only to reappear a few moments later and struggle off of again the lover of field sports would find a gunners gunner paradise along the shores of the arctic ocean in the summer season reason curlew snipe and ducks ire are so plentiful that one tires of shooting them so far as 1 known the canvasback duck so huoh prized by gourmands is not found north of the arctic circle but the de licious little green and blue winged teal and toothsome mallard ore are found everywhere NerY where along the coast and on the banks of the streams strep ms r I 1 during buring the last of may when the late arctic spring first fint signs of open irig the natives nativa begin to look anxiously Wat wattward hward for the coming of uie the emperor goo goose this bird forms one of tho the principal articles of food supply to the natives and during the molting bolting season the slaughter slaught of the birds birdis is i enormous long nets are set act across the marshes and the water fowl tre ore driven into them by the natives thousands of young birds are killed in these drives by the wasteful fUl savages CS who excuse CX CUe them elves by saying baying that they will thus prevent them being in the way the next drive one of the handsomest small birds found in alaska and one affording tho the best sport for shooting is tile rod red phalarope it is abundant along the coast and on all the islands of Itch behring ring sea arriving about june 1 and is common until october SO 20 the flight of tho the is very erratic and the gunner fond of wing shooting has in this bird an excellent chance to test his should the sportsman grow weary of tramping over the half flooded flats and nd timber plains of the northern coast which form the breeding places of tho the waders and snipe and desire less monotonous gunning lot him land on any one of the aleutian islands and there high up on the sides of the mountains lie he will find the ptarmigan or rock grouse this beautiful bird frequenter frequente fre quente the higher slopes along the line of all the hills bills during the summer season and to reach its haunts one must be a good dimber climber sound in wind and limb indeed for the way is rough and there are arc no roads upon the steep grass covered slopes the hunters joy will lead him over in cropping ter masses of volcanic rock and across 2 brawling mountain streams where the trout love to live in the deep pools and so on until lie he reaches tho the abow here lie ho may pause for a moment to gaze downward where the blue tinged waters of the bay are softly lapping the shore but his hunters blood will not permit of long delay and when the deep whirr r r of a passing grouse arouses him every nerve is strung and amid some of the most beautiful scenery in n america his sport begins |