WESTERN SAVANNAH SPARROW 701 



cold but the summers are comparatively warm. The mean annual 

 temperature is 10° F. * * * The temperature rises above freezing in 

 May and the snow pack begins to melt. The mean temperature is 

 above freezing only for the months of June, July and August. July 

 is the warmest month, with a monthly mean of 43° F." Maher 

 makes no comment on the wind, which must be severe at times. 

 Bee (195S), who worked in the Kaolak area in 1951, cites one instance 

 when the wind forced most of the tundra birds to seek the shelter of 

 the willow-lined creek beds. 



L. H. Walkinshaw and J. J. Stophlet (1949) state that hi the John- 

 son River region of Alaska, near Bethel, nests of the Savannah spar- 

 row were built in lowland or highland tundra, under the grasses and 

 sedges, often under dwarf birch and crowberry, and sunk into the 

 moss so that their rims w^ere even with the surface of the moss. Nests 

 were made of grasses and sedges and were lined with fine grasses. 

 This was one of the few small bird species whose nests were not lined 

 with ptarmigan feathers. Nests observed between June 4-12, 1946, 

 contained from three to six eggs. 



F. L. Williamson (1957) provides a detailed description of the 

 Napaskiak area in the delta of the Kuskokwim River not distant 

 from Bethel, Alaska. He says that the race anthinus is common to 

 abundant in nearly all formations of open character where grasses 

 predominate in May and June. Habitats included fresh-water 

 marshes, dwarf birch-alder thickets, wet tundra, and the cleared 

 areas about the village. 



J. Grinnell (1900a) found this species fairly numerous in July 1898, 

 in the vicinity of Cape Blossom in the Kotzebue Sound region of 

 Alaska. Grassy meadows bordering lagoons were favored, although 

 a few birds were noted on the interior hillsides. Young were half- 

 fledged by July 10. 



A. L. Rand (1946) states that in Yukon territory, Canada, the 

 Savannah sparrow^ was fairly common in summer above tmiberline 

 and in grassy areas in the lowlands, from the southern border to 

 Herschel Island. A nest at Burwasli Landing, July 2, 1943, contained 

 three young. Below timberline the birds favored sedge-covered 

 grassy margins of lake shores, marshy ponds, and grassy country. 



Herbert Brandt (1943) stated the favorite breeding area of anthinus 

 in the Hooper Bay region of Alaska was the long grass of an Eskuno 

 graveyard. One nest was only a few feet from a white bleached skull, 

 which often served as a lookout station for the nuile. Brandt found 

 another nest wlien a bird darted from his feet in old grass close to a 

 small pond on the valley floor. Lifting the long, matted hay, he 

 saw a runway like that of a lemming, which he traced four feet to a 

 well-made circularly woven grass nest. Nests were invariably placed 



