ALASKA YELLOW WAGTAIL 23 



a quick dart and away the bird would fly to a safer rendezvous. The 

 wagtails would also snap up lots of flies." 



Behavior. — On July 13, 1911, I was exploring the tundra back of 

 Nome, Alaska. From the top of a low hill I could see a small pond 

 about a mile away and walked over to it, where I found three or four 

 small ponds with wet meadows and marshy ground about them. On 

 the way down over the tundra, as I approached a patch of low willows, 

 I noticed a small bird, which at first I thought was a pipit, flying 

 back and forth in front of me, going over the same space again and 

 again until I became tired watching it and waiting for it to alight. 

 It had a peculiar, billowy, fluttering flight, was twittering constantly, 

 and seemed to be tied to one spot just in front of me, swinging back 

 and forth like a pendulum. I soon saw that it was not a pipit, for I 

 could recognize the bright yellow breast and the conspicuous white 

 tail feathers of the Alaska yellow wagtail. It was my first experience 

 with this lovely little bird, which was really abundant about the willow 

 patches and around edges of the sw^ampy ponds. The pecidiar be- 

 havior of this individual was probably due to the presence of young 

 in that particular spot. There were plenty of fully fledged young 

 on the wing, but there were probably others in the nests, for we saw 

 adults with food in their bills. 



At low tide these birds, especially the young, resorted to the beaches 

 to pick up bits of food left by the receding waves; here they flitted 

 gracefully among the rocks or walked daintily over the wet ground, 

 nodding their heads and flirting their tails after the manner of pipits 

 or the other wagtails. They were always shy on the ground but, if 

 flushed, would come back and circle overhead, where their restless and 

 erratic flight made them diflicult to shoot. 



Dr. Nelson (1887) writes: "Even during the breeding season they 

 are ever on the alert, and the approach of a stranger to their haunts 

 is sure to bring several of them from bush or flat to protest against 

 the right-of-way. They may be distinguished, while yet far away, by 

 their long, easy, swinging flight, undulating in their course like Spinus 

 trlstls, or a Woodpecker; drawing near, they circle slowly overhead, 

 constantly uttering the sharp ple-ple-ple, or alighting for a moment 

 upon a small bush or hummock, flirting their tails and moving rest- 

 lessly about, apparently consumed with nervous impatience, and 

 scarcely have they touched the ground ere they are again on the 

 wing." 



Voice. — The courtship flight song is referred to under that heading, 

 and the call note is described above by Dr. Nelson. Dr. Grinnell 

 (1900) referred to the latter note as a faint pe-weet, uttered at fre- 

 quent intervals. These are the notes that I recorded as twittering 

 notes ; I never heard any very musical notes, nor anything that could 

 be called a song. 



