ALASKA LONGSPUR 1613 



wherein the male may carry nesting material, ultimately result in 

 the female becoming receptive to copulation. 

 Driiry (1961) describes similar behavior as precopulatory: 



Above nest No. 3 * * * I saw the male rise with fluttering flight straight 

 up into the air, flying with difficulty because of a wad of dark material in his 

 bill * * * . Before flying, he stood vertically, bill horizontal or pointed up, 

 wings drooped at his sides, and tail spread and lowered. He sang with this 

 material in his bill and succeeded in getting about 20 feet off the ground, then 

 sang as he fluttered down again. He picked up even more material, and hopped 

 onto a stone. He had so much in his bill now that he could not get off the ground, 

 but he could sing. He stood a few moments and readjusted the material in his 

 bill, put it down and picked it up again; then he pointed his bill up and fluttered 

 his wings without getting off the ground. * * * 



When approaching the female the male held his head high, neck extending 

 and bill horizontal, with all the accumulation of dark material in his bill. He 

 dropped the load and pointed his bill straight up, showing his black throat, while 

 he dragged his wings as he walked up to her. Then he lowered his head, ruffled 

 his scapular, back and rump feathers, and widely spread his tail * * * . She 

 crouched with head low, tail cocked up, wings quivering and partly spread. 

 He fluttered over and, without hovering, mounted on her back in the same posi- 

 tion he had assumed in front of her, and copulated. After copulation he hopped 

 off and walked in front of her in the same crouched position, while she stood up, 

 raised her bill straight up and cocked her tail as high as possible, chattering. 



Belligerence of a male toward a female was witnessed on one 

 occasion when pairs from adjoining territories came into contact. 

 The male of one of these pairs assumed a crouching threat posture 

 with wings slightly spread before the female of the other pair. No 

 other aggressive action was taken. 



On another occasion the quiet side-by-side foraging of a male and 

 female was interrupted by a violent struggle between them. They 

 chattered loudly and actually seized one another with their bills. 

 The male routed the female and came away with a bill full of feathers. 

 Whether or not these birds constituted a pair was not determined, 

 but in any event the hostile, defensive motivation of the male was 

 apparently released by the female's proximity. 



Toward the end of May, as early as the 26th, the intensity of song 

 and other territorial behavior of the mated males begins to subside. 

 This becomes marked by the end of May, and as early as June 3 

 mated males were seen to tolerate the presence of other males singing 

 around and over their territories. By June 12 song and territoriality 

 virtually cease. In late May and early June it is commonplace to 

 see two, three, or less frequently four males following a single female 

 as she forages about the territory. The resident male often tries to 

 drive off these intruders, but apparently a diminished agressiveness 

 in the face of unfavorable odds nullifies his efforts. One explanation 

 for the presence of these seemingly surplus males is that they are 

 unmated, but this implies an unusually disproportionate sex ratio 



