brooks: birds from east Siberia and arctic al.\sica.. 409 



conspicuous are the wild cries of loons and the dreary wailing of white 

 foxes, both of which add to the monotony and desolation of a country 

 already dreary enough. The x\laska I^ongspur with its simple liquid 

 melody heard on every side in June adds a cheer to one's existence and 

 forms a link between the northern barrens and more favored climes 

 where pleasing bird songs are the rule and not the exception. 



The first Alaska Longspur seen was a single female taken at the 

 Semidi Islands, April 19, 1913. They were quite common during 

 June 1913, at Providence Bay, East Cape, and St. Lawrence Island, 

 though we failed to find any nests. A few were noted at Cape Serdze, 

 July 17 and 18, and on July 23, several young birds were flying about 

 at Cape Lisburne, Alaska. They were common at Collinson Point, 

 August 3 and 9, 1913. The last bird noted was a female shot at 

 Demarcation Point, on September 2, 1913. 



The first Alaska liOngspur seen at Demarcation Point in the spring 

 of 1914 was a single male on May 14. No more were seen until May 

 21, when about twenty males and two females were found sporad- 

 ically. On May 23 Alaska Longspurs were abundant and a few 

 pairs were noted, though males were greatly in the majority. They 

 were also abundant on the following day and for the first time singing 

 everywhere. By May 27 all the Alaska Longspurs seen were paired 

 and immediately nest-building commenced, a task apparently falling 

 exclusively to the female. The nests were made of dried grass and 

 varied considerably in size and neatness of construction, but invari- 

 ably were lined with the discarded winter plumage of ptarmigan. On 

 the tundra about Demarcation Point there are many furrows, due I 

 imagine to the action of frost. Along the sides of these furrows where 

 the overhanging grass oft'ers concealment one finds most of the nests 

 though they are occasionally found in grass tufts on the more level 

 ground. 



Full complements of fresh eggs were found by June 7 and from this 

 date until June 19. Young just hatched were found on June 27 and 

 young able to fly July 3. This illustrates well the extraordinary 

 rapidity with which birds breed in the far north, young able to fly 

 being found forty-three days after the first females arrived. 



Alaska Longspurs seem more prone to inactivity at night than other 

 Arctic birds. Every night when the sun had dipped closer to the northern 

 horizon and the temperature had fallen, a dozen or more of these birds 

 were accustomed to squat behind various bits of wood, and the posts 

 of a cache in front of my camp. Here they would remain from about 

 eleven in the evening until two or three o'clock in the morning. If the 



