32 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 217 



Gavia stellata (Pontoppidan) 



1 male June 11, 1949 



weight 1900 g. 



1 female June 11, 1949 



weight 1622 g. 



1 male, not pre- June 28, 1951 



weight 1711 g. 



served i 





1 female, not pre- June 2, 1951 



weight 1613 g. 



served. 





eggs 30 mm. and 20 

 mm. 



The earliest recorded appearances of red-throated loons are May 23, 

 1950, June 2, 1951, May 18, 1953, and June 1, 1954. The size of the 

 developing eggs found in the bird on June 2, 1951, shows that the 

 nesting date was close at hand. During summer they are common, 

 particularly in smaller lakes, even those high up among the mountains, 

 entering some which may be less than 100 yards across, although 

 when these are narrow they are usually elongate. In these restricted 

 waters they are much less shy than the other loons, and late in summer 

 they may be seen there with their young. They are the most numerous 

 of the loons and, because of the number of small bodies of water suit- 

 able to them, may be ten times as numerous as Pacific loons. 



A late observation, September 8, 1950, at Contact Creek suggests 

 that these loons traverse the mountains southward in fall migration, 

 for at that date the lakes north of the mountains are likely to be ice 

 covered. 



In early June, they hold closely to the small lakes and are not as 

 often seen flying as are the other loons. But at the end of June, their 

 call in flight begins to be heard. The call is the basis for their Nuna- 

 miut name, KaJcsrauh. During July and August, this fast repeated 

 call is much heard overhead, and it is difficult to connect it with the 

 bird, which flies so swiftly and so high that the sound seems to trail 

 behind its origin. To search for the source of the call high in the over- 

 cast above the arctic tundra is a dizzying effort, but the Nunamiut like 

 the trial of locating Kaksrauk in flight. 



Ked-throated loons nest in the valley and migrate northward and 

 southward in numbers. 



FamUy PODICIPEDIDAE: Grebes 

 Podiceps grisegena holbollii Reinhardt 



Red-necked grebes have not been reported in the mountains, but 

 Sidney B. Peyton told me that he found one floating dead in a lake 

 near Bettles Village late in June 1954. Charles Sheldon of Kobuk 

 reported them common there, with the Eskimo name Shoolishookruk. 

 Since red-necked as well as horned grebes occur along the Koyukuk 

 and Kobuk they may likewise be expected to venture north into the 

 mountains. 



