BRISTLE-THIGHED CURLEW 141 



the westward or to the southward of the Alaska Peninsula. The 

 species is comparatively scarce on the Bering Sea coast of Alaska, 

 from which we might infer that an overland flight is made from 

 the vicinity of the Kenai Peninsula to the breeding grounds some- 

 where in the northern interior of Alaska. 



Summer. — The breeding grounds and the nesting habits of the 

 bristle-thighed curlew are entirely unknown, an interesting problem 

 for some enterprising ornithologist to work out. Mr. Conover 

 (1926) suggests that " the main breeding ground is probably above the 

 timber line on some of the mountain ranges " of Alaska. Herbert 

 W. Brandt says in his notes : 



From the native information I was able to gather I believe that these birds 

 may breed at the eastern end of the Askinuk Mountains, or in the Kusilvak 

 Mountains and perhaps the mountains to the northward of Mountain Village 

 on the Yukon River. Their early loitering appearance at Hooper Bay so 

 shortly after nesting makes it entirely unlikely that they had traveled very 

 far, but it seems rather strange that we did not encounter them in their 

 spring migration and further it is apparently doubtful that tliey should enter 

 the Bering Sea coast territory by following down either the Yukon or the 

 Kuskoquim River valleys. 



Dr. Charles H. ToAvnsend shot a specimen of this curlew at Kotze- 

 bue Sound (Kobuk River) on August 25; it was a young bird which 

 had evidently recently come from its breeding grounds. "VVe saw 

 none of this species about Nome in July ; but after" I left, Rollo H. 

 Beck, a member of our expedition, collected quite a series of them in 

 August. Two of his birds, now in my collection, were taken at Cape 

 Nome on August 24, 1911. Mr. Conover (1920) writes: 



By the end of July we had entered the Kashunuk Slough and traveled dowTi 

 it until we were about 20 miles from where it enters Hooper Bay. At this 

 place was an Eskimo village where we stopped for a few days to have a goose 

 drive; and it was here that we saw the bristle-thighed curlew in abundance. 

 On July 31 a pair was seen and collected, and on August 3 one more was taken. 

 August 4 was the big day, as several hundred of these birds were seen on 

 the tundra feeding on blueberries. About a dozen were taken by our party, and 

 I personally believe I saw over a hundred, while another member of the 

 expedition, who was ofE in another direction, estimated that he saw three times 

 as many. All the specimens taken were old birds. 



The above facts would seem to indicate that the main breeding 

 grounds are somewhere in the interior of extreme northern Alaska, 

 probably on the barren grounds; that the spring migration is well 

 inland; and that there is a heavy fall migration along the Bering 

 Sea coast. The eggs and downy young are entirely unknown and 

 there are not enough specimens available to work out the molts and 

 plumages, which probably correspond to those of closely related 

 species. 



