Nov., 1900] 



BIRDS OF THE KOTZEBUE SOUND REGION, 



29 



Their clear whistled song-notes of three syllables were heard several times. This 

 ■was uttered while the bird flew over the tundra at a considerable height, with 

 slowly flapping wings. The actions of a plover during this song-flight reminded 

 me of the flight of a nighthawk. At Cape Blo.ssom, I saw several Golden Plover 

 about the hillsides the first of July, and Mr. Rivers of our party saw the species at 

 Choris Peninsula on June 12th. No eggs or young were discovered, but I have no 

 •doubt that this bird nests at these points. The six specimens obtained are appar- 

 ently referable to the American form rather than C. d. fulvus. 



u-^gialitis seniipalmata Bo nap. 

 Semipalmated Plover. 



This species was cnly noted twice, in the Kowak Valley, so that it cannot be 

 very numerous- I shot a solitary adult male at the edge of the river near our 

 winter camp on May 30, '99- And I saw a single one in the Kowak delta on June 

 T4th. This bird was flying in broad circles over a swale, following closely a pair 

 ■of noisy Yellow-legs. The natives along the Kowak River know this species and 

 call it Ko-ruk'c-ruk. 



Aphriza virgala (GmeL). 

 Surf Bird. 



I met with this species on vmXy one occasion, and this was tin the 29th of May, 

 1899, at our winter camp on the Kowak. Six waders were seen flying up the 

 river low over the water. Thej^ finally lit on the sand at the water's edge, and I 

 succeeded in obtaining three specimens, which proved to be cf this .species. Two 

 were males, with testes one-fourth of an inch in diameter. The largest ovum in 

 the female was one-eighth of an inch in diameter. Thus, I have no doubt, the 

 birds would have nested within the next two weeks. An Indian in the neighl or- 

 hood, moreover, when shown these birds recognized them by name (T(w-ak'til-ik), 

 and told me that when mosquito-time came (I suppcse about the middle of June), 

 these birds are found nesting alxiut the small lakes far back on the tundra next to 

 the mountains, and he pointed toward the Selawik Range on the south side of the 

 Kowak Valley. This seems to correspond somewhat with Nelson^s experience at 

 St. Michaels. He found the Surf Bird to be a rare fall A'isitant there, and says 

 ■"the natives, however, claim that it is found breeding on the bare mountains 

 in the interior, some twenty or thirty miles from the cocnst." But he further adds, 

 ■"they probably mistook it frr some other bird." I, myself, however, have no 

 doubt that the breeding grounds of this little-known species is somewhere in the 



