ANAKTUVUK PASS 125 



males as females. During June, I noticed that there were frequently 

 groups of four or five males amiably feeding together on the dry parts 

 of the tundra, occasionally to be joined by a female. So frequently 

 were these small groups of males seen together at the same place that 

 it was my impression that they were regularly associated companions. 

 They walked about in their awkward, stiff-legged gait as deferential 

 to each other as a group of old gentlemen at their club. 



When the young birds scattered from the nests at the end of June, 

 the females came out of retirement and were usually seen in the 

 proportion of one female to three or four males, but thereafter the 

 grouping of males was not noticed. The clubs were now broken up. 

 A collection of young birds which had left their nests was made in 

 1950. These birds were not selected and the sexes were not distinguish- 

 able in the field either by appearance or habit and yet the results gave 

 nine males and two females. Wlien I consider the revealing habits 

 of these longspurs in May and June, I wonder if the males in the 

 population in 1951 considerably outnumbered the females. 



In the Killik Valley in August 1950, Alaska longspurs were as 

 abundant as at Anaktuvuk and about twenty times as numerous as 

 Smith's longspur. Two young birds from Odrivik Lake and Akmalik 

 Creek correspond in size with birds from Tuluak. In late July at 

 Tuluak and more noticeably in early August in the Killik Valley, long- 

 spurs frequently were grouped loosely in larger than family numbers 

 of a dozen or so, and the direction of flight was more often south than 

 north. They were observed August 15, 1950, at Chandler Lake. On 

 August 25, 1948, there were not many around Tuluak Lake and our 

 latest record is September 2, 1950, at Contact Creek. 



Alaska longspurs arrive earlier and remain later than Smith's long- 

 spurs. Alaska longspurs go far north on the arctic tundra in summer 

 and are common along the arctic coast, but they have not the feathers 

 typical of northern birds, and they retreat from the far north before 

 cold weather sets in. 



The view of large but loosely organized flocks moving northward in 

 mid-May shows that Anaktuvuk Pass is an important thoroughfare 

 for these longspurs in their movement to the arctic slope. 



Calcarius pictus (Swainson) 



13 males 



June 4-July 10 



weight (22), 25.5- 

 31.8, average 28.5 



11 females 



June 4— July 20 



g. 

 weight (7), 22.0-26, 

 average 24.3 g. 



1 young male 



July 27 



weight 27.6 g. 



2 young females 



July 24. 27 



weight 28.1, 25.3 g. 



Eggs, 4 fresh with 



June 18, 1949 





female 







Eggs, 4 fresh with 



June 19, 1949 





female 







