Nov., 1900] BIRDS OF THE KOTZRBUE SOUND REGION. 47 



sideration. At Cape Blossom during July, '98, they were mainly in pairs, though 

 small companies of from 4 to 8 were occasionally seen. They frequented the 

 dwarf willow and alder patches, especially among the hills back from the coast. 

 Two nests were found on the 20th of July. They were each built in the crotches 

 of low bushes about two feet from the ground, and were only one hundred feet 

 apart on a slope sparsely covered with small bushes. The nests were composed 

 of dry mildewed grasses externally, with a thick lining of cottony down from the 

 seed-cases of a kind of grass, and a few feathers. One of the nests contained four 

 eggs and the other five. Both sets were far advanced in incubation, and the latter 

 set contained one infertile egg. The female birds we're sitting closely when the 

 nests were discovered> and in both cases I nearly touched them before the}' slipped 

 from the nests. They darted quickly out of sight, making no solicitous demonstra- 

 tions whatever. Another nest was found near Cape Blossom on July ist, '99. 

 This was in every way similar to the other two, and contained four slightly- 

 incubated eggs. In the Kowak Valley the Hoary Redpolls were present in 

 unvarying numbers throughout the year. They were obviously less noticeable 

 up to the middle of September, or until the summer birds had all left; but during 

 the long winter, from September 15 to May 15, they were by far the most numerous 

 species. The days of extremest cold were invariably calm and clear, and on such 

 days one could walk scarcely a half-hour in any direction from camp without 

 meeting with flocks of from ten to fifty redpolls. In the morning especially, they 

 kept coubtantly on the go, flying about from place to place with a continuous 

 medley of chit-chat notes. Later, in the short winter day, they would be less 

 noticeable, and were to be looked for in the thickets of alder and willow, where 

 their presence would be first betrayed by the rustle of pods and dead leaves. 

 The alders in particular retain their dead dry foliage through the winter, where 

 the bushes are sheltered from the heavy north winds. The redpolls when feeding 

 seldom utter a note, but if alarmed the flock takes flight from the brush in scatter- 

 ing succession with a chorus of cells. The seeds and buds of the alder, birch and 

 willow constitute their sole food supply. When feeding, the redpolls assume all 

 manner of postures, most often clinging beneath the twigs, back downward and 

 picking to pieces the pods. They keep almost motionless, save for slight move- 

 ments of the head, unless when flitting from one base of operations to another. 

 Among the brown curled leaves their fcrm.s are hardly discernible from any 

 distance, especiallj^ if a breeze is swaying the branches. W'hen picking to pieces 

 the pods on the alder bushes, lots of the small seeds are lost and fall to the ground. 

 The redpolls often fly down to the snow beneath to pick up these crumbs, and 

 their little parallel tracks frescoed the snow under the bu.shes. These tracks show 

 that a redpoll never walks, stepping alternately as a fowl, but always hops, plant- 

 ing both feet at once side by side. The hop-tracks, with the marks of the dragging 

 toes between, show this in an interesting manner. On ordinary yielding snow 

 where the bird sinks in % io y2 an inch, the double tracks average four inches 

 apart; and the two foot-prints are i/^ of an inch apart. The redpolls had usually 

 a single note, a sharp chirp; but sometimes, especially when individuals were 

 calling to each other from a distance, one would hear a cheery "twe-e-et," like a 

 goldfinch. On windy days, w hich were ver}' numerous in the fore part of the 

 winter, one licid to look for the rcdj)()lls in the most sheltered situations, and some- 

 times he would fail to find them at all But the next calm day would bring them 



