ANAKTUVUK PASS 49 



Family FALCONIDAE: Falcons 



Falco rusticolus obsoletus Gmelin 



1 female, Nov. 17, 1952 weight 1431 g. 



Itikmallkpuk 

 1 young male, July 2, 1951 weight 1330 g. 



Irivik Creek, 



Killlk VaUey 



Gyrfalcons have been explicitly reported seen in the mountains 

 in every month of the year and I can see no indication that the num- 

 bers vary in a way to suggest migratory habits. As I came to know 

 some of the well established locations of the nesting pairs it appeared 

 that the birds observed were usually within some miles of a nesting 

 place and it was our opinion that a pair remained within its territory 

 throughout the year. 



During the late summer and autumn of 1952, gyrfalcons were occa- 

 sionally seen around the heights of Soakpuk mountain. Birds seen 

 a year earlier near the head of Kangomavik Creek were thought to 

 belong to this family, and individuals were occasionally seen in the 

 nearby valley during the months of February and March 1953. The 

 location of the Soakpuk nest in the high cliffs was impossible to 

 determine. 



About the end of March 1952, Simon Paneak frequently observed 

 a pair of gyrfalcons near Naniksruk, an open fishing place on the 

 Anaktuvuk River some 60 miles north of the mountains. He thought 

 they were then preparing to nest in the place which he knew as a 

 historic nesting location. The young specimen was one of two full- 

 sized nestlings shot by William Irving on a nest in a cliff near Irivik 

 Cave in the Killik Valley. The other bird lodged in the nest, which 

 was inaccessible, and which had long been a known but unattainable 

 nesting site. It was remarked that another nest also inaccessible was 

 located within a hundred yards. 



The Nunamiut say that none of the hawks can overtake a sound 

 ptarmigan or duck in flight at the same level. They also believe that 

 a gyrfalcon strikes its prey with its breast and only seizes it with 

 claws when it is struck to the ground. While this is not the common 

 opinion of naturalists it was expressed by Nunamiut for whom ob- 

 servation of animals is an inherited career. 



There are several Nunamiut names for gyrfalcon: Okiotak, Kit- 

 gavihroak^ and for young birds in autumn, Atkaruak^ meaning "like 

 caribou mittens." The Nunamiut interest for gyrfalcons arises from 

 their spectacular habits and their usefulness to a hunting people. 

 Wing and tail feathers were used to guide arrows and spears, as were 

 those of the duck hawk, pigeon hawk and rough-leg. For this purpose 

 the first four primary feathers were preferred. Two feathers were 



