44 PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA [No. i. 



• Scolecophagus carolinus (Miill.)- 

 Rusty Blackbird. 



This was a fairly common bird along the Kowak River from the delta east- 

 ward. Up to the first week of September parties of from 4 to 8 were to be seen 

 in the willows bordering the opposite side of the river from our winter cabin. 

 After being flushed from the brush they would fly erratically a short distance and 

 then drop suddenly out of sight into a thicket. On September 6th a flock of 25 

 Rusty Blackbirds silently lit in the spruces near camp, remaining but a few 

 moments before again taking flight. After September 8th none were noted until 

 the 8th of October, when a solitary straggler was shot from the tip of a tall spruce, 

 where it had just lit from the westward. The following spring this species arrived 

 in flocks on the 22d of May, after which small communities were often met with 

 along the borders of lakes surrounded by the woods. In such haunts these black- 

 birds probably nidify, though I failed to find any nests up to the fifth of June. 

 The native name for the blackbird is Tdb-ldb'kat-un-it'tok. 



Pinicola enucleator alascensis Ridgw. 

 Alaskan Pine Grosbeak. 



The Alaskan Pine Grosbeak proved to be a common resident throughout the 

 year in wooded tracts from the delta eastward through the Kowak Valley. My 

 first acquaintance with this species was made on the 25th of August, '98, when 

 two adults and two full-grown young were observed. They were silent save for 

 a low, mellow call-note, and were feeding on the green alder seed-pods. I secured 

 the two adults, which were in moulting plumage. In September and October 

 Pine Grosbeaks were quite numerous, being often met with in companies of six to 

 a dozen, immatures and adults together. They were usually among the scattering 

 birch and spruce which line the low ridges. There, until the snow covered the 

 ground, they fed on blueberries, rose-apples and cranberries. During the winter 

 their food was much the same as that of the redpolls — seeds and buds of birch, 

 alder and willow, and sometimes tender spruce needles. In the severest winter 

 weather they were not often seen in the spruces, but had then retreated into the 

 willow-beds. The usual note is a clear whistle of three syllables. The native 

 name Ki-u-tiik' represents it. Then there was a low, mellow, one-syllabled note 

 uttered among members of a flock when alarmed. Twice I noted solitary males, 

 when flying across the woods, singing a loud, rollicking warble, much like a Purple 

 Finch. One morning, the i8th of February, found me across the riv^er skirting 

 the willows in search of ptarmigan. Although it was 50 degrees below zero, a 

 Pine Grosbeak, from the depths of a nearby thicket, suddenly burst forth in a rich 

 melodious strain, something like our southern Black headed Grosbeak. He con- 

 tinued, though in a more subdued fashion, for several minutes. Such surroundings 

 and conditions for a bird-song like this! Again one day in March, during a heavy 

 snow-storm, a bright red male sang similarly at intervals for nearly an hour, from 

 an alder thicket near the cabin. And as summer approached their song was heard 

 more and more frequently. Not until May 25th did I discover a nest. This was 

 barely commenced, but on June 3rd, when I visited the locality again, the nest 

 was completed and contained four fresh eggs. The female was incubating, and 

 remained on the nest until nearly touched. The nest was eight feet above the 



