Nov., 1900] BIRDS OF THE KOTZEBUE SOUND REGION. 15 



The nest was a mixture of down from the breast of the female parent, and bits of 

 grass, leaves and moss. In the Kowak delta Pintails' nests were found far out on 

 the bare, mossy tundra, in two ca.ses fully 400 yards from the neare.st pond. The 

 largest set found contained eight eggs. The latest set was of six slightly incubated 

 eggs taken together with the female parent on June 24th. On the 23rd the first brood 

 of downy young were seen. They were discovered at the edge of a pond, and as 

 the old bird tumbled away through the grass in frantic efforts to distract my atten- 

 tion, the brood of young with one accord scurried across the water to a small islet, 

 and in a moment were scattered through the short grass and completely hidden 

 from view. A series of 25 eggs averages 2.18x1.51. Extremes are 2.26x1.52, 

 2.06x1.54, 2.23x1.39, 2.19x1.59. In shape they vary from ovate to elongate-ovate 

 and elliptical-oval. The eggs are light pea-green with various discolorations of 

 clay-color. The eskimo name for the Pintail is ini-cu)'ak. 



Ayt/iya marila (Linn.). 

 Scaup Duck. 



Strange to say, during the fall of '98 we did not shoot a single Scaup Duck- 

 on the Kowak River among the numerous Pintails and Baldpates. Probably the 

 Scaups, as soon as the young are able to fly, betake themselves to the larger lakes 

 and thence shortly to the coast. In the spring of '99 this duck was not seen until 

 June ist. On the 2nd many small flocks were seen flying north, and 8 or 10 

 w^ere observed on a lake. These, from their curious antics, were evidently just 

 pairing off. In the Kowak delta this species was quite common in June, and on 

 the 14th of that month I took a set of eleven fresh eggs, also securing the female 

 as she flushed from the nest. This nest was on a high, dry hummock, about ten 

 yards from the edge of a lake. It was almost hidden from view by tall, dead grass 

 of the previous year's growth. The eggs rested on a bed of finely broken grass- 

 stems, while the rim of the nest was indicated by a narrow margin of down. A 

 second set of ten fresh eggs was taken on the same day and the nest was similar 

 in construction, but was out on the tundra between two lakes, and fully a quarter 

 of a mile from either. A set of seven fresh eggs taken on the 15th was quite different- 

 ly situated. The nest was almost without feathers or down, and consisted of a neat 

 saucer of matted dry grass-blades, supported among standing marsh grass and 

 about four inches above the water. It was in a broad, marshy swale about thirty 

 feet from a .small pond of open water. The swale was drained into the main river 

 channel by a slough, so that in this case there was little danger of a rise in the 

 water of more than an inch or two. All of the nests of this species were discovered 

 by flushing the female from the immediate vicinity. Twenty-one eggs of the 

 Scaup Duck average 2.46x1.73. They are uniformly deep olive bufl". The native 

 name for the Scaup Duck is Kach-lo"b't(rok. 



Hare Ida liyemalis (Linn.). 

 Old-squaw. 



The Old-squaw was the commonest duck met with along the coa.st from Cape 

 Prince of Wales to Cape Blcssom. As the "Penelope" was working her way north- 

 ward an:ong the ice-fioes near shore, it was a connnon thing to see a block of ice 



