ANAKTUVUK PASS 103 



On June 19, 1951, among the willows on Contact Creek, I saw two 

 which acted as if in residence, watched them, and heard the male 

 singing, although my unfortunate insensitivity to bird songs prevents 

 me from definition of their faint but agreeable sounds. In the next 

 4 days I hunted daily along Contact Creek and formed the estimate 

 that about 20 pairs were resident along one mile of the thick high 

 willows along the stream. 



On June 23, John Morry's son, Riley, brought me a willow warbler 

 with its nest and two eggs. With his slingshot, the boy had wounded 

 the bird, and had found its nest on the ground with one egg. As boys 

 and men will often do with animals that they have just failed to 

 kill, he compassionately brought bird and nest back to his parents' 

 tent. There the bird had laid one additional egg before expiring, 

 and in the morning Riley brought me the nest with its two eggs and 

 the parent bird. 



On June 24, 1951, as we returned northward to our camp at Imai- 

 ginik, Simon Paneak and I found two pairs of these little warblers 

 among the willows of Kangomavik Creek, and I suspect there were 

 other pairs there. In 1950 we had hunted this area carefully on several 

 days wthout seeing willow warblers. 



When I reached Contact Creek on May 29, 1952, I heard reports 

 from Simon Paneak that a few willow warblers had already been seen. 

 In the next 10 days, I saw two birds like willow warblers, and there 

 were several observations reported by Eskimo adults and children. 

 Unless one can see a willow warbler stationary and from nearby it is 

 difficult to identify, because of its insignificant size and faint mark- 

 ings. When it is moving among the wind-shaken willow leaves and 

 viewed against a light sky background its color and even shape are 

 hard to distinguish. Several instances of singing willow warblers were 

 reported to me, but in that year I saw none I could identify. By this 

 time the Nunamiut shared my interest in these little birds and they 

 gave me several reports indicating that willow warblers were not 

 uncommon. But it was not until July 23 that Paneak collected an 

 adult female and two young females of adult weight at Kangomavik. 



On occasions the willow warblers have been easy for me to see clearly 

 as they sang or moved about in the edge of the still willows. I have 

 had so many views of them and received so many reports that I am 

 sure there is a considerable population of them usually nesting among 

 the willows along Contact Creek and at Kangomavik. The earliest 

 date when one has been reported to me is May 30, 1954. 



Simon Paneak and I saw many willow warblers among the willows 

 around Lake Itivlik and along the Ahlasuruk River. A female that 

 we collected had a bare area as for incubation (L. Irving and Paneak, 

 1954). 



469496—60 S 



