ANAKTUVUK PASS 81 



almost any time flying over Anaktiivuk Valley, feeding on the river 

 banks or lakes. The Nunamiut call them Nauyatcheak. They say 

 that some are seen even at the mouth of the Colville. 



A single egg was found on the wet mosses of a little hummock in 

 a small tundra lake near Summit, June 24, 1951. One bird was sit- 

 ting on the nest, and as I approached, it took oif and was joined by 

 another which sailed about over me as I took pictures. 



The young first-year female bird was taken August 7, 1950, on the 

 Killik River near Akmalik Creek. It had attained adult weight 

 but not length. It flew strongly and might have come from a distance, 

 but it was in the company of adult birds which acted as if in residence. 



The latest record in 1950 was September 8 at Contact Creek. Mew 

 gulls are common summer residents which nest in the Valley. Greater 

 numbers pass through in spring than remain as residents. These are 

 probably northbound migrants. 



Occasionally these gulls fly high among the mountains. I watched 

 one soaring with more grace and speed than an eagle as it rose over 

 a 5,000-foot mountain. Early in summer, small groups carry on aerial 

 evolutions, calling as they fly above the mountains and often pass 

 vertically beyond range of glasses. I estimate that they reach alti- 

 tudes of 10,000 feet. 



Rhodostethia rosea (Macgillivray) 



Ross's gull is well known from earlier annual visits of the Nuna- 

 miut to the eastern arctic coast, and it is called by them Kahmahloak. 

 At Barrow I saw these beautiful gulls first as if coming from the east 

 early in September. Only one has been reported to me in the moun- 

 tains, when in April 1949, it circled and hovered about the camp at 

 Kalutak Creek for some minutes watching and watched by the chil- 

 dren, who were joined by several adult witnesses before it flew away. 

 The event made a distinct impression upon the people. The reported 

 occurrence of this coastal gull in the mountains and in spring is so 

 far beyond the scope of its reasonable wandering that this report does 

 not entitle it to inclusion among the known avifauna of the Pass. The 

 Nunamiut do not know of its nesting place. 



Xema sabini (Sabine) 



One Sabine's gull was reported seen by Thomas Brower at Tuluak 

 Lake on June 24, 1949, and the Nunamiut say that they occasionally 

 see it in the momitains. This beautiful gull is well known as Kadga- 

 giak to the Nunamiut from their former annual visits to the eastern 

 arctic coast. The name is said to refer to the sound made by the gull. 

 The name also resembles that of the willow ptarmigan and there is 

 something about the gull which reminds me of a male ptarmigan as it 



