128 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 217 



Charles Sheldon has informed me, snow buntings were seen in Feb- 

 ruary and March 1954, and the local people expected to see them oc- 

 casionally every winter. Dall (1869) saw them in winter at Nulato 

 on the Yukon near the mouth of the Koyukuk. The wintering popu- 

 lation of snow buntings nearest to those of northern Alaska is in 

 British Columbia. There they have been reported at Atlin (Swarth, 

 1936), and I saw a flock near Fort St. John in mid-December 1949 and 

 again in January 1954. Between the areas where snow buntings are 

 known to winter in Alaska and Canada the mountains appear like a 

 barrier which would be formidable in winter and which would deter 

 east- west migration of snow buntings in spring. Of this we cannot 

 be certain, but Salomonsen (1947, 1950) thought the Alaskan buntings 

 might be of a race intermediate between the darker American nivalis 

 and the lighter Siberian pallidus. At present there seems to be no way 

 to establish whether snow buntings wintering in Canada join the large 

 numbers which proceed northward in spring to nest along the arctic 

 coasts of Alaska. 



By April 29, 1949, snow buntings had become numerous at Anak- 

 tuvuk. The peak of their abundance was reached on May 9, when over 

 400 were recorded by Tom Brower. The numbers diminished from 

 the hundreds seen daily near the peak of migration until the last flock 

 was recorded on May 18, but a final pair was observed on May 26 and 

 May 27. 



The Nunamiut name for snow bunting is Amauligak. Henry Col- 

 lins informed me that many Eskimo groups give that name to snow 

 buntings because it is related to the distinguishing black-and-white 

 pattern of plumagie of male king eiders, which shows especially clearly 

 in flight. Simon Paneak remarked upon the resemblance of the two 

 patterns. Several other birds are named for their resemblance to a 

 single character of another bird, although the resemblance holds in no 

 other respect. Swallows are named for the resemblance of their acro- 

 batic flight to the aerial evolutions of ravens. Wheatears are named 

 little eagles because of their free flight over the rocky mountainsides. 



During summer no snow buntings were seen on the floor of Anak- 

 tuvuk Yalley nor at elevations up to 4,000 feet, which were frequently 

 visited. At the head of Kangomavik Creek; at an elevation estimated 

 to be about 6,000 feet Paneak saw snow buntings on August 29, 1950. 

 We thought these might have been early migrants returning from the 

 coast or possibly had nested in the mountains, for Ray Hock trapped 

 nine snow buntings at Barrow between September 11 and 29, 1947. 

 Mary Lobban saw them at Barrow and Wainwright until the end of 

 September 1957, and Anderson (1921) last saw them on the Hula Hula 



