ANAKTUVUK PASS 79 



They are called Isongnatcheak, meaning "young: or new jaeger" in 

 Nunamiut. In spring they are frequently seen in pairs or small groups. 

 Apparently they are then in migration, for they are less numerous dur- 

 ing the summer. On June 5, 1951, a female contained eggs 18 and 12 

 mm. long. The female taken June 20, had a bare spot, as if incubating. 

 Young birds have been reported, although I have not seen them. Long- 

 tailed jaegers are usually more numerous than parasitic jaegers both 

 in spring and summer. 



Our early records in Anaktuvuk Valley are later than the time for 

 arrival of jaegers at Barrow, as Tom Brower first pointed out to me. 

 It may be that jaegers and some other birds migrate southward from 

 the arctic coast in spring rather than into the mountains by the route 

 through interior Alaska. Either route would be consistent with our 

 date records for jaegers. 



A number of captive long-tailed jaegers lived well for several weeks, 

 but they became extremely dirty. They ate voraciously, and showed 

 neither fear nor curiosity. They did not evince any interest in their 

 surroundings nor did they appear depressed by them. Their stolid 

 behavior resembled that of captive gulls, but was quite unlike the 

 lively interest and adaptability to domestication which is shown by 

 some sandpipers, ravens, and jays and by some of the Fringillidae. 



Family LARIDAE: Gulls, Terns 



Larus hyperboreus barrovianus Ridgway 



1 male, adult, not May 18 weight 1605 g. 



preserved 



1 male, immature, June 11 weight 1824 g. 



in 2d year, wing 435 mm. 



white culmen 60 mm. 



The white-plumaged gull with some faint dirty brown on the breast 

 appears to be a second-year bird and these measurements conform 

 with those given by Bailey (1948) for western glaucous gulls from 

 Barrow. The other male, with matured testes, was fat. 



These gulls are called Nauyavak by the Nunamiut, meaning "larger 

 gulls." The earliest recorded arrivals are May 14, 1949, May 10, 1950, 

 May 6, 1951, May 29, 1952, May 4, 1953, and May 6, 1954. Between 

 May 19 and 22, 1949, from 5 to 8 were seen daily. Between May 6 

 and 14, 1951, a few were seen each day, generally flying northward. 

 It would be possible for these wide-ranging gulls to have come to 

 Anaktuvuk either by northern or southern routes, for they arrive 

 earlier at Barrow than at Anaktuvuk. During the summer of 1950 

 an occasional solitary bird patrolled the river daily. Frequently it 

 was seen standing alone on the river bars. Wlien disturbed it would 

 fly only a few hundred yards as if reluctant to leave its territory. 



