ANAKTUVUK PASS 107 



River. Anderson (1921) found nestlings near Niklik at the moutli of 

 the Colville. Only a few records from the northern arctic coast are 

 given by Bailey (1948). From information provided by my col- 

 league Raymond Hock, they are common in the Colville Valley near 

 Umiat. It seems that data are near at hand to establish accurately 

 the distribution and abundance of these small birds which migrate 

 far eastward from the interior of Asia to energetically occupy in 

 summer the treeless section of arctic Alaska. 



Anthus spinoletta rubescens (Tunstall) 



26 males May 4-Aug. 7 weight (28), 19.2- 



25.5, average 21.6 g. 

 7 females May 11-July 7 weight (8), 18.6- 



23,2, average 20.1 g. 



The earliest recorded arrivals of American water pipits were May 

 10, 1949, May 10, 1950, May 4, 1951, May 14, 1952, May 13, 1953 and 

 May 25, 1954. In 1949 the peak of migration was reached on May 

 19 when 500 were reported seen by Tom Brower. Thereafter the num- 

 bers dropped off sharply, but on May 30, 40 pipits were recorded. 

 Since this number is larger than the number of residents seen on later 

 days, it probably represents the late northward flight in that year. On 

 May 19, 1951, the pipits were reported by John Krog to have suddenly 

 disappeared from Nakagnik Springs where they had previously been 

 numerous. 



Males collected May 4 and 10, 1951, had small testes, but all ex- 

 amined later were large. Eggs in females examined in 1951 were 3 

 mm. in length on May 21, 2 mm. on May 23, and 2 mm. on May 26. 

 On June 2 some females under observation had laid and one large egg 

 was found broken ; on June 19 all had laid. 



One nest, found by Tom Brower on the ground under some low wil- 

 lows upon which dead grass was hanging, was large enough to accom- 

 modate the 6 eggs it contained (these appeared large for a bird of 

 this size). It was loosely constructed of flat grass, lined with fine 

 round grass, and contained no other material but grass. 



Pipits are uncommon on the floor of Anaktuvuk Valley in summer, 

 but in some high wet or dry grassy places and on the dry and rocky 

 ground as high as 4,000 feet, the limit of our regular surveys, they 

 are numerous, although inconspicuous. They ranged higher than the 

 wheatears, which favor the foot of the talus slopes, but a common 

 redpoll {Acanthis flammea) and the pipits were the highest ranging 

 small birds to be collected. 



In midsummer, these high mountain regions are extremely dry, bear- 

 ing only a sparse low vegetation, and the pipits are inconspicuous on 

 the ground among the rocks and grasses, but they frequently stand ex- 

 posed on hummocks or rocks, revealing themselves only by twitching 



