1680 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 ™i 3 



In winter the adult male has more or less of a brownish or rusty 

 wash on the head and back, but otherwise is much like the summer 

 bird. The adult female has more black or dusky streaks and patches 

 on the back and scapulars and a brownish wash over most of the back. 



Food. — Nothing definite is known about its food preferences, though 

 it obviously feeds on grass, sedge, and weed seeds as do other arctic 

 fringillids, and probably eats a goodly proportion of insects in summer. 



Voice. — Keeler (1901) writes: "Nor did the song of this snowflake 

 prove disappointing. It was a loud, sweet, flutelike warble, frequently 

 uttered on the wing, and much resembles the notes of the western 

 meadowlark, although rather higher, shriller, and shorter." 



I am not sure that I ever heard the full song, as both my visits to the 

 nesting ground occurred after the young were well fledged. The adults 

 had a sharp, metallic, sparrow-like note, and one occasion gave a partial 

 song, to me much like the song of the snow bunting. 



Herbert Brandt (1943) says: 



Suddenly a beautiful white bird, evidently a male, began to sing vigorously its 

 Eastern Goldfinch-like song, and leaping into the air, bounded directly away, 

 causing me to wonder where in that vast sea of snow it could possibly be going? 

 A few minutes later I heard a distant song approaching, and soon a fine white 

 bird settled into the flock, preened itself, and began to search for food. 



Almost at once another individual left, and this time I followed the bird with 

 my glasses until lost to view, noting that it flew toward our headquarters. Finally 

 I saw it returning from a direction nearly opposite that in which it had departed. 

 Recalling the birds that had bounded past the schoolhouse without pausing, led 

 me to discover that the McKay Snow Bunting has a wide, circular, nuptial flight- 

 song which, on this occasion, covered a diameter of considerably more than a mile. 



In another passage Brandt refers to the species "uttering a wild 

 sweet warble" while on the wing. 



Fall and winter. — In winter McKay's bunting reaches to the shores 

 of Bristol Bay and travels through the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in 

 migration. It probably winters in this area also. Away from the 

 breeding grounds it has been taken at St. Michael, Hooper Bay, 

 Bethel, and on Bristol Bay either in winter or on migration. Brandt 

 (1943) found it present in numbers at Hooper Bay from April 30 to 

 May 20. Outside of this, the species has been found only on the 

 Pribilofs and Nunivak Island. 



Distribution 



Range. — Hall and St. Matthew islands to the mainland of western 

 Alaska. 



Breeding range. — The McKay's bunting breeds on Hall and St. 

 Matthew islands, Alaska. 



Winter Range. — Hall, St. Matthew, and Nunivak islands and 

 western coastal Alaska (St. Michael, Kuskokwim River, and 

 Nushagak) . 



