b8 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN .217 



We particularly searched for nests. Susie Paneak reported that on 

 June 10 she had seen a tattler that acted as if nesting in Akvalutak 

 Creek near its emergence from the mountain wall, but repeated search- 

 ing failed to discover a nest. On June 24, a female tattler was col- 

 lected on Kangomavik Creek about halfway from the river to the 

 mountain wall of the Valley. Its behavior strongly suggested the 

 proximity of a nest or young, but Simon Paneak and I were unable 

 to find anything after long search in the grass-grown gravel. On 

 July 9, Simon Paneak and William Irving collected a pair of tattlers 

 with three downy young on Akmalik Creek about li/^ miles west of 

 the Killik River. They were located on a grassy bar among the wil- 

 lows. Since these young tattlers were probably near twice the weight 

 of the eggs from which they had hatched they had probably left the 

 nest several days earlier. Simon and William had, in July, seen an- 

 other pair of tattlers acting as if near a nest at Togoyuk Creek several 

 miles higher in the Killik Valley. 



In 1956 Simon Paneak's son Roosevelt found four fresh tattler's 

 eggs on a gravel bar in Tuluak Creek. These were collected for Sidney 

 Peyton. 



We have no record of the late summer or return flight, for the 

 birds remain inconspicuous all summer in the valley stream beds which 

 they frequent and which are lined and filled with dense willow brush. 

 During migration, tattlers are much less numerous than golden plover 

 but more common than black-bellied plover. Some probably go on 

 northward, although their summer habitat in the valley would only 

 be found in a few places north of the mountain line. Among the 

 Nunamiut, tattlers are considered to be a rather common nesting 

 bird, but their concealing habitat and shyness in this period is the 

 reason for uncommon summer observations. 



It is interesting to compare the tattlers, yellowlegs, and snipe. The 

 last are always of secretive disposition on the ground, particularly dur- 

 ing nesting, revealing themselves in summer only by their flight sounds 

 and in occasional flights. Yellowlegs show off their presence con- 

 spicuously all during the summer, when wandering tattlers mostly 

 disappear up the small creeks. Although only yellowlegs are com- 

 monly seen, I suspect that all three birds are present in considerable 

 and perhaps similar numbers nesting in the mountain valleys. 



Totanus flavipes (Gmelin) 



10 males May 26- July 3 weight (14), 69-94, . 



average 81 g. 

 4 females June 13- July 3 weight (6), 77-92, 



average 81 g. 



6, sex unknown May-Aug. 6 

 1 nest, 4 slightly June 13, 1949 



incubated eggs, 



with female 



