106 EXPEDITION TO POINT BARROW, ALASKA. 



They were ;i little later the next season. The natives reported seeing one or t\vo at Point 

 Barrow April 1G, but we saw noue near the station till the 10th. Stragglers continued to arrive 

 through April and JMay, but they were not really plenty either season till about May 20. 



They began to siug about the middle of May, and by the 23d or 24th were well established and 

 in full song. 



Three or four pairs made their home near the station, and several more in the village, while 

 the rest were scattered along the edge of the tundra, but few going any distance inland. They 

 especially atl'ected the broken muddy banks and gullies below the village and along the shore of 

 the lagoons, and the cook's refuse heap was from the first a great attraction. 



The males spend a great deal of time siuging perched on the highest point they can find. The 

 ridge-poles of our buildings and the wind-vane were favorite resorts for these jolly little singers. 

 They continued singing until about the first week in July. 



Early in June they begin to build in holes and crevices in the banks, where the nest is always 

 completely concealed, raising occasionally, at any rate, two broods in the season. The full comple- 

 ment of eggs appears to be six, though I found one nest containing seven eggs in IfeS.'J. 



In 18S2 one pair established themselves in a hogshead of bricks close to the station, unfortu- 

 nately too much exposed to the curiosity of the Eskimo children, who caught and killed the male 

 bird just as the female had completed her full set of eggs. Of course under the circumstances the 

 nest and eggs were added to our collection. Nothing daunted, the female immediately secured 

 another mate and went to work on a new nest, but was again doomed to disappointment, for when 

 she had finished her second nest and laid two eggs she was again robbed by the natives. Wo 

 succeeded, however, in protecting the third nest; and the young hatched and were beginning to 

 fly by the end of July, by which time earlier broods were already pretty well grown. During the 

 early part of July, after the males have ceased singing, they keep together in broods, and keep 

 pretty well out of sight, as they are beginning to moult and take on the fall plumage. About July 

 25, however, they appear in considerable numbers, mostly young of the year in the gray plumage, 

 associating with the young Longspurs around the empty village and about the native camps. 

 They continue quite abundant in large loose flocks, generally through August, gradually becom- 

 ing scarcer in September. The last one was seen in 1882, on September 20. We left them still 

 comparatively plenty when we abandoned the station in 1883. 



187. CENTROPHANBS LAFPONICTTS (Linn.) Cabau. 



LAPLAND LONGSPUR (Xcsaaudliya). 



The Lougspurs, though, if anything, more abundant than the last species, arrive later and 

 depart earlier. They arrived both seasons at very nearly the same date, and were equally abundant. 



On May 20, 1882, which was a comparatively warm day with a fresh southwest wind, they 

 suddenly appeared iu considerable numbers, having probably arrived during the night, apparently 

 all males, in full song. 



They were to be found on all the bare spots on the tundra, near the station, along the coast, and 

 near the cemetery at the head of the lagoon. Several were secured, and their stomachs were 

 found to contain beetles. The sexual organs were fully developed. They were rather less abundant 

 early in the season of 1883, as there was much less bare ground than the year before at the time of 

 their arrival, May 21. 



Though abundant a short distance inland, these birds were seldom seen around the station or 

 along the edges of the beach and the lagoons, like the Snow-buntings. In accordance with what 

 appears to be their general habit elsewhere, they are specially to be looked for on the higher and 

 drier parts of the tundra, where the nest is built in the grass, and not concealed in holes or crevices, 

 like those of the snow-buntings. 



During the breeding season, that is, from the time of their arrival till July 1. the males keep 

 tip a continual song, frequently soaring up and singing in the air like a bobolink. Their note at 

 other times is a metallic chirp, not unlike that of the Titlark. 



Notwithstanding the lateness of the season in 1883, a complete set pf six eggs, already showing 

 signs of incubation, was found on June 0, a week earlier than in 188*2. This nest was the only one 



