ALASKA CHICIC\DEE 369 



of the Old Crow and some of its tributaries, therefore, carry the spruce woods 

 in the form of long sinuous belts through a tundra region. These narrow belts 

 of forest are the home of the Alaska Chickadee, apparently to the exclusion of 

 other Chickadees. Pentkestes hudsonicus was not collected on the Old Crow nor 

 was it identified among those observed. * ♦ * 



A consideration of the circumstances under which the Alaska Chickadee has 

 been observed tends to show that it prefers the edges of forest tracts or regions 

 where spruce forest is broken up, as contrasted with more extensive, continuous 

 ferest areas. * * * Grinnell says, 'The Alaskan Chickadee was never seen in 

 company with the other species and was an inhabitant of the spruce tracts along 

 the base of the moimtains rather than in the river bottoms.' Other records show 

 that alasccn^is was found even in the willows beyond the spruce woods. 



The range of this bird borders the northern tree limit, where habitat conditions 

 mentioned here may be found. 



Joseph S. Dixon (1938) found it "well distributed in the aspen and 

 spruce forests," in Mount McKinley National Park. "People living 

 in the region told us that these chicadees disappear in the spring and are 

 rarely seen all summer, but that in the fall they again gather about the 

 cabins to be fed." 



Our Alaskan bird differs from the Siberian race in having a smaller 

 bill and slightly darker coloration. It resembles the Hudsonian chicka- 

 dee in a general way, but the sides of the neck are white instead of 

 gray, and the coloration is paler throughout. 



Nesting. — The first nest reported of the Alaska chickadee was that 

 found by Roderick MacFarlane (1891) in the Anderson River region 

 in northern Mackenzie, of which he states: "On 1st June, 1864, a 

 nest of this species, containing seven eggs, was found near Fort Ander- 

 son, in a hole in a dry spruce stump, at a height of about 6 feet from 

 the ground. It was composed of a moderate quantity of hare or rabbit 

 fur, intermixed with a sprinkling of dried moss. The female parent 

 was snared on the nest, but the male was not seen. The contents of 

 the eggs were tolerably fresh." 



There is a set of six eggs in the Thayer collection, taken by Bishop 

 J. O. Stringer near the Peel River on June 30, 1898; the nest was in 

 a hole in a tree stump. The European race is said to make its nest in 

 natural cavities in trees, or in old woodpecker holes. Dr. E. W. 

 Nelson (1887) says that it "has been known to eject the rightful owmer 

 of a cavity and seize upon the site for its own nest. Its eggs are usually 

 placed upon a mass of hairs of the lemming and hare, combined with 

 fine moss or vegetable down." 



Eggs. — Dr. Nelson (1887) says that "it lays from seven to nine eggs, 

 which are grayish-white, with reddish-violet and reddish-brown spots 

 often collected at the larger end. The eggs are broad in proportion to 

 their length." 



