The last days of May and the first week of June are notable for 

 their clear and pleasant days, during which the busy life of the 

 feathered residents goes rapidly on toward its culmination in nest- 

 building. Occasional short storms occur at this season ; and I was 

 much interested to note that the assembled water-fowl had to some 

 extent the power of recognizing the approaching storms as sensi- 

 tively as the barometer. The evening before the onset of one of these 

 spring storms was commonly heralded on the tundra, even in the 

 clearest weather, by wonderful outbursts of cries from the larger 

 water-fowl, and these would continue for half an hour before the 

 birds settled down for the night. Thousands of birds took part in 



PACIFIC KITTIWAKES, NESTING ON WALRUS 



ISLAND IN BERING SEA. 

 From a Photograph by A. C. Bent 



producing the tremendous chorus. It was made up of the notes of 

 numberless loons in small ponds, joined with the rolling cries of 

 cranes, the bugling of flocks of swans on the large ponds, the clanging 

 of innumerable geese, the hoarse calls of various ducks, and the 

 screams of gulls and terns, all in a state of great excitement, appar- 

 ently trying to outdo one another in strength of voice. The result 

 was a volume of wildly harmonious music, so impressive that these 

 concerts still remain among my most vivid memories of the North. 



It was a complete surprise to me, during my first spring in the 

 North, to learn that a large number of waders, and some of the ducks, 

 utter series of consecutive musical notes during the mating period 



38 



