ANAKTUVUK PASS 99 



The noisy exhibitions of the robins indicate how their early summer 

 concern for family affairs merges into a communal interest which 

 widens and strengthens in early September to join them in well 

 organized flocks ready for departure southward. 



The aggressive, swift-flying robins, with their great concern for 

 their own pattern of social behavior, apparently find the arctic nest- 

 ing grounds very satisfactory. Perhaps it is because of this aggressive 

 and demonstrative concern for their own social pattern that we white 

 people find familiar sympathy for robins. The Nunamiut name for 

 robin is Koyapigahtoruh^ described to me as referring to their "noise" 

 rather than to their song. Although the robins live about the Eskimo 

 camps I did not detect as much Nunamiut interest in them as they 

 have in many birds whose more gentle behavior better conforms to my 

 impression of Eskimo manners. 



Hylocichla minima minima (Lafresnaye) 



7 males May 29-June 14 weight (7), 26.1-33.6, 



average 30.6 g. 

 1 female, 1 nest; June 22 weight (2), 27.8-35.5 



4 fresh eggs, g, 



with female 



A northern gray-cheeked thrush was brought to me May 30, 1948, 

 and I saw many along Contact Creek after May 29, 1952. The first 

 birds seen appeared to be settled, and Grinnell (1900) reported that 

 they were already paired when first seen on the Kobuk on May 24. 

 The Nunamiut know the bird well, calling it Niviokruksioyuk, mean- 

 ing "goes after flies." It is one of the regular and common summer 

 inliabitants among the dense willows of the Valley. 



The nest collected by Tom Brower was typically situated in the fork 

 of high willows about two feet off the ground. It was bulky, com- 

 pact, and rather well formed of flexed willow twigs and coarser 

 round grass stems. It was lined with fine grass to form a deep 

 depression. 



They are not conspicuous birds after nesting begins in the moun- 

 tains, but males sometimes come to small willows in the open and to 

 the top of the willows in thick brush to sing. Nesting sites are among 

 dense willows. In 1951, I found many gray-cheeked thrushes in the 

 thick willows around Contact Creek. In 1952, they were more common 

 there than robins and we saw many more than in preceding years. 

 Early in June that year, the male thrushes were often engaged in 

 driving away intruding males, which they did more decisively and 

 in swifter flight than even the robins. I rank these thrushes and 

 Alaska yellow wagtails ahead of robins for the sudden violence of 

 their reaction to preserve their domestic territory for their own ex- 

 clusive use. 



