250 BULLETIN 130, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



flying over the land and cross the narrow portage. A few birds go farther 

 on and fly through False Pass and probably passes farther on, but the groat 

 majority take the Morzhovia Bay route. 



The spring migration of the black brant in northern Alaska and 

 the circumstances surrounding it have been so attractively portrayed 

 by Dr. E. W. Nelson (1881) that I can not refrain from quoting 

 parts of what he says about it, as he observed it at St. Michael, 

 Alaska ; he writes : 



The long reign of ice and snow begins to yield to the mild influence of the 

 rapidly lengthening days ; the middle of May is reached, and the midnight 

 sky over the northern horizon blushes with delicate rose tints, changing to 

 purpie toward the zenith. Fleecy clouds passing slowly across the horizon 

 seem to quiver and glow with lovely hues, only to fade to dull leaden again 

 as they glide from the reach of fair Aurora. The land, so lately snow- 

 bound, becomes dotted with pools of water, and the constantly narrowing 

 borders of the snow soon make room for the waterfowl which, with eager 

 accord, begin to arrive in abundance, some upon lagging wings, as if from 

 far away, others making the air resound with joyous notes as they recognize 

 some familiar pond where, for successive seasons, they have reared their 

 young in safety, or, perhaps a favorite feeding ground. At this time the 

 white-fronted and Hutchins geese take precedence in numbers, though, to be 

 sure, they have been preceded for two weeks by the hardy pintail duck, the 

 common swan, and, lastly, that ornithological harlequin, the sandhill crane, 

 whose loud rolling note is heard here and there as it stalks gravely along, 

 dining upon the last year's berries of Empetrum nigrum, when, meeting a 

 rival, or perchance one of the fair sex, he proceeds to execute a burlesque 

 minuet. 



A few days later, upon the mirror-like bosoms of myriads of tiny lakelets, the 

 graceful northern Phalaropes flit here and there or swim about in pretty com- 

 panies. At length, about the 20th of May, the first barn swallow arrives, and 

 then we begin to look for the black brant, the " nimkee," as it is called by the 

 Russians, the " luk-lug-u-nuk " of the Norton Sound Eskimo. Ere long the 

 avant-couricr is seen in the form of a small flock of 10 or 15 individuals 

 which skim along close to the ice, heading directly across Norton Sound to the 

 vicinity of Cape Nome, whence their route leads along the low coast to Port 

 Clarence where, I am told by the natives, some stop to breed ; but the ma- 

 jority press on and seek the ice-bordered northern shore of Alaska and even 

 beyond to unknown regions far to the north. 



The 22d of May a native came in bringing a lot of geese and reporting plenty 

 of black brant up the " canal." For the benefit of the unfortunate few who 

 have not been at St. Michael I may explain that the " canal " is a narrow 

 and shallow tidal channel which separates St. Michael Island from the main 

 land and is bordered on either side by a stretch of low, flat land abundantly 

 dotted with brackish ponds and intersected by numerous small tide creeks. 

 As would be surmised, this forms a favorite haunt for various kinds of water- 

 fowl. 



Preparing the tent and other paraphernalia, two of us, accompanied by a 

 couple of natives, started out the next morning with a sled and team of five large 

 dogs, driven tandem, just as the sun gilded the distant hilltops and gave a still 

 deeper tint to the purple haze enveloping their bases. The sharp, frosty air 

 and the pleasurable excitement of the prospective hunt, after months of in- 



