522 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1956 



Identification of the bird bones from T 1 will provide at least a par- 

 tial inventory of the kinds of birds that migrated to this area 2,000 

 years ago, for comparison with those now found there. The low-lying 

 area around Native Point, with its network of ponds and lagoons, 

 fairly swarms with bird life during the summer. The principal 

 species that we observed nesting were king eider and Old Squaw ducks, 

 gulls, terns, various kinds of waders, snow buntings, and Lapland 

 longspurs. Flocks of Canada, snow, and blue geese were constantly 

 passing by. Loons, singly or in small groups, seemed to maintain 

 regular flight schedules over our camp, filling the air with their 

 strident cacophony as they shuttled at high speed from one pond or 

 lagoon to another. From two to seven beautiful white swans were 

 usually visible on the surface of the large pond, which we called Swan 

 Lake, a few hundred yards from our tents. Longspurs and snow 

 buntings nested all around the camp area, seeking the protection of 

 grassy tussocks and of fallen rocks and crevices in the old house ruins. 

 The snow buntings showed a special predilection for old tin cans and 

 human and animal skulls lying on the surface around the Sadlermiut 

 site. 



Under a permit from the Canadian Wildlife Service we collected a 

 small number of migratory birds, mainly jaegers, gulls, ducks, geese, 

 and loons, as well as lemmings which were particularly abundant in 

 1954 and 1955. As the avifauna of Southampton Island is fairly well 

 known, our purpose was not to collect bird skins for museum specimens 

 but for the ectoparasites — lice and mites — which they might contain. 

 Each species of bird and mammal has its own species of insect para- 

 sites, and Col. Robert Traub of the Walter Reed Medical Center was 

 interested in obtaining these for study in connection with his investi- 

 gation of the role of such parasites in the transmission of typhus and 

 other diseases. One of my most tedious afterdinner chores was the 

 "louse hunt," in which I would painstakingly examine birds and lem- 

 mings in search of the elusive quarry. The jaegers, rapacious gulls 

 with hawks' habits that prey on smaller birds, were heavily infested 

 with mites, and several hundred could easily be scraped from a single 

 wing feather and dropped into a vial of alcohol. Examination of the 

 other birds and lemmings required constant use of the magnifying lens 

 and was a much greater strain on one's eyesight and patience. Often 

 the most prolonged fluffing of fur and feathers would produce no more 

 than one or two lice or mites. 



Our other afterhours activities involved the collecting of plants, 

 fossils, fresh- water invertebrates, moths, butterflies, beetles, and other 

 insects. The most abundant, and unwelcome, form of insect life was 

 mosquitoes. July was "mosquito month" and life would have been 

 miserable indeed if we had had no protection against them. Fortu- 



