ALASKA YELLOW WAGTAIL 21 



Wilson C. Hanna has sent me the data for six sets of eggs of the 

 Alaska yellow wagtail that came to him with the parent birds, five 

 from the Meade Kiver, 100 miles southeast of Barrow, and one from 

 Wales, Alaska. Three nests were in the roots of small willows on the 

 bank of the river, one was in long grass on the river bank, one was on 

 a grassy knoll near some willow roots, and the nest at Wales was "sit- 

 uated at mound at old dwelling place." The nests were made mainly 

 of grasses and fine plant stems, with sometimes a few dead leaves, root- 

 lets, mosses, or feathers. The three nests that he has in his collection 

 are of "rather compact construction"; one has only the finer material 

 for a lining, and another has a good lining of reindeer hair, mouse hair, 

 moss, and a few feathers. The measurements of these nests vary in 

 outside diameter from 4 to 4.5 inches, in inside diameter from 2 to 2.3, 

 in outside depth from 2.5 to 3, and in inside depth from 1.7 to 1.8 

 inches. Dr. Lawrence H. Walkinshaw (1948) gives a somewhat simi- 

 lar account of the nesting of this species near Bethel, Alaska. 



^99s. — The Alaska yellow wagtail lays four to seven eggs to a set, 

 five and six being the commonest. Mr. Hanna giA'^es me the follow- 

 ing description of the 17 eggs in his collection : "The eggs are ovate 

 to short-ovate and are without gloss. At first glance they look like some 

 eggs of the horned lark, but smaller in size. The ground color is 'deep 

 olive-buff' to 'dark olive-buff,' The markings are fine and rather uni- 

 form over the entire surface of the eggs, but in at least a few cases 

 heavier on the larger end. The markings are 'light brownish olive' 

 to 'buffy olive'," 



Dr, Nelson's description ( 1887) is somewhat different ; of a series of 

 37 eggs, he says: "The ground color of the eggs varies from a pale- 

 greenish clay to a clayey white, over which extends a profuse confluent 

 mottling, varying from slaty to reddish brown, which, in some cases, 

 almost hides the ground color; in others the spots are large and less 

 numerous, and do not cover the shells so completely. The eggs of the 

 same set usually are of a similar shade and markings, and in but one 

 set can the slightest traces of zigzag markings be found about the 

 larger ends." 



The measurements of 50 eggs average 19.1 by 14.4 millimeters; the 

 eggs showing the four extremes measure 20.9 by 15.3, 19.5 by 15.6, 18.0 

 by 14.4, and 18.5 by 13.2 millimeters. 



Yoimg, — Mr. Turner (1886) says that "incubation lasts ten to thir- 

 teen days. The young birds are fed exclusively on insect food. They 

 are able to fly in fifteen to eighteen days after hatching. The earliest 

 birds sometimes hatch two broods of young in a season, as young just 

 able to fly have been observed as late as August 18th." When we were 

 at Nome, around the middle of July, the young were fully fledged and 

 on the wing; small parties were often seen about the houses on the out- 



