116 XT. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 217 



National Museum as ■jiamimea. On June 11, 1952, 1 identified by sight 

 as -fiammea birds which were working on two unfinished nests at Con- 

 tact Creek. A third female allowed me to watch her from a distance 

 of 2 feet while sitting on a single egg. So I believe that both species 

 nest numerously in adjacent areas upon which I cannot now place any 

 distinction. 



Until 1952 I believed that exilipes were ten times more numerous 

 than fiammea. But I saw about equal numbers of each species as I 

 hunted principally around Contact Creek in 1952, where I had not 

 previously concentrated so much attention. I believe, however, that 

 over the whole valley the numbers of exilipes in summer greatly ex- 

 ceed those of flam/mea, and that they are distributed in more varied 

 situations. 



In early and late summer, the migrating flocks of hoary redpolls are 

 very much more numerous, and I have not positively identified flocks 

 of flarmnea nor do I know whether they intermingle in migration with 

 flocks of exilipes. 



In weight the two forms are not distinguishable. In reports of 

 fatness prior to nesting both redpolls in early summer are noticeably 

 less fat than many common migrant species at Anaktuvuk. This ob- 

 servation can be compared with Barbara Oakeson's (1953) view that 

 races of white-crowned sparrows of the Pacific Coast region making 

 short migratory flights are not as fat on their wintering grounds be- 

 fore migration as are those sparrows contemplating a long migration. 

 Furthermore, at the terminus of only a short migration, the Gambel's 

 sparrows were not fat (Blanchard, 1942) . Many redpolls remain dur- 

 ing winter in Alaska, but I have seen more of -flammiea and but few of 

 exilipes near Fairbanks and Anchorage. 



The arrival of the redpolls is vaguely defined in my records, but the 

 rarity of fat redpolls at migration time presents a contrast with the 

 uniform fatness of arriving tree sparrows and Alaska longspurs, and 

 in fact with the fatness of many arriving migrant birds which are 

 known to winter in regions remote from Anaktuvuk. It may be that 

 the meager fatness of early summer redpolls at Anaktuvuk is a symp- 

 tom of a short migration, as Blanchard (1942) showed to be the case 

 among the white-crowned sparrows of the Pacific-coast States. 



Of the two species of redpoll, exilipes was found to be less fat than 

 fiammea^ as the tabulation below shows : 





Fat 



Medium fat 



Little fat 



Very 

 little fat 



Lea; 



Acantliis hornemanni exilipes 













Males 



1 



3 



4 



7 



2 



Females 





2 



2 



2 



1 



Acanthis fiammea flammea 













Males 



2 



2 



7 



6 







Females 



1 



4 



2 











