Bird 



An effort was made to ascertain the Aleut names for birds and 

 mammals. There are difficulties in such an undertaking, because 

 one must be certain that both investigator and native informant 

 are talking about the same bird. To make sure of this, a de- 

 scription of the bird and its calls and habits was supplemented 

 with a colored illustration by Allan Brooks, which was obtained 

 from the National Geographic Magazine, and in numerous in- 

 stances actual specimens were used for identification. In spite of 

 all these precautions, it was necessary to guard against confu- 

 sion in the minds of the natives because not all of them know 

 their birds perfectly. This is particularly true of the more east- 

 ern communities, which are farthest removed from a primitive 

 way of life. The most accurate information was obtained from 

 the Attu people living at the extreme western end of the island 

 chain. 



There also is difficulty both in accurately hearing names spoken 

 by natives, and in writing them adequately. Not being familiar 

 with the technique of the ethnologist, I have used the English 

 alphabet to represent the sounds of Aleut words as closely as 

 possible. The endings of Aleut words, or syllables, are also a 

 problem, because they are very soft, often somewhere between 

 h and ch, and sometimes have a soft r sound included. Final ch, 

 as used here, is the same as in the German Buck. R is guttural, 

 glided over, and sometimes is accompanied by an h to emphasize 

 this quality. /, as in "it." E, as in "let," unless marked long. A, 

 as in "Ah." 



There are at least three Aleut dialects, which are indicated 

 here as Attu, Atka, and Unalaska. When available, names from 

 Alaska Peninsula, recorded by Wetmore or others, are included. 

 Stejneger's names from the Commander Islands are also given 

 (most of these names are Russian, but some are Aleut). Jochel- 

 son has listed a few names, but usually he did not designate the 

 dialect or the exact species. Some of his names cannot be 

 identified ; however, only names that are generally accepted are 

 used here. A few names in Russian and Chukchi, from the 

 mainland of Siberia, are also given. 



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