20 BULLETIN 19 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



have been collected on migration in eastern Asia to separate our bird^ 

 from the form breeding in northeastern Siberia. It probably fol- 

 lows the same route by which the species originally invaded this 

 continent. Dr. Nelson (1883) says that it "makes its appearance the 

 last of May or the first of June, according to the season." And Lucien 

 M. Turner (1886) says: "This bird arrives about the 12th of June; 

 a few days earlier or later, depending on the opening of the spring." 

 Herbert Brandt (1943) writes: "We did not observe this Palaearctic 

 species as a transient about Hooper Bay during the migi-ation, and 

 it does not seem likely that such a conspicuous bird could escape us 

 had it passed through our region in anything like the numbers that 

 congregated in the mountains a little farther north. It seems prob- 

 able that this wagtail arrives either from the north or directly across 

 Bering Sea from its Asiatic winter haunts." 

 Courtship. — Dr. Nelson (1887) writes: 



When the male pays his addresses to the female in spring a peculiar perform- 

 ance takes place, somewhat like that of the Yellow Chat. The male starts up 

 from a bank or clump of bushes, and, rising for 20 or 30 yards at a sharp angle, 

 suddenly stiffens and decurves his wings, at the same time slowly spreading and 

 elevating his tail nearly perpendicularly to his body, and in this curious position 

 he floats slowly down until within a foot or two of the ground, uttering a low, 

 clear, and rapid medley of jingling notes which can only be compared to the 

 sound made by lightly rattling together the links of a small steel chain. This 

 performance is very commonly executed over a large snow-bank, as if the bird 

 appreciated the contrast afforded by such a background. As he approaches the 

 ground in his descent he suddenly glides away to a neighboring bush or knoll, 

 whence he repeats the maneuver. 



Nesting. — Dr. Nelson (1887) says: 



Their nests are usually placed under the edge of a tussock or slightly over- 

 hanging bank, bunch of gi'ass, or in fact of any similar shelter, under which they 

 can partially or wholly conceal the nest. Their preference, however, is for grassy 

 borders of a rather steeply sloping bank, along the brow of which they place their 

 nests. As one walks over the grass-covered places frequented by these birds, 

 during the breeding season, he is likely to see a female flutter off her eggs at bis 

 feet, and, flying away a few yards, alight and glide away, mouse-like, among the 

 grass with such rapidity that, unless closely watched, she quickly disappears. 

 In some cases she will lie thus concealed for some time, and other times she 

 joins the male at once and circles about overhead. 



He says that no two of his seven nests are exactly alike : 



The outer jwrtlon is usuallj' composed of bits of grass and moss, pretty com- 

 pactly arranged, with the central cavity well lined with some warm material, such 

 as the hair of dogs and man, or Ptarmigan feathers, or a combination of the 

 three. One nest is built mainly of fine grass lined with a closely felted layer 

 of dogs' hair. The second nest has a thin layer of moss and grass followed by 

 one of feathers, and the six eggs it contains rest upon a layer of silky-brown 

 club-mosses. The third is composed of a felted layer of dogs' hair at the bottom, 

 followed by a thin layer of feathers ; this is succeeded by a still thinner layer 

 of club-moss, and the eggs rest upon a felted layer of dogs' hair. The fourth 

 nest is composed of a uniform loosely joined structure of feathers and pieces of 

 grass all mingled into a heterogeneous mass. 



