146 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 217 



Family CINCLIDAE: Dippers 

 Cinclus mexicanus unicolor Bonaparte 



The dipper was reported on the Kobuk by Grinnell (1900) from 

 the unmistakable account of white trappers, for it is one of the few 

 species of birds which white trappers and prospectors can describe 

 well enough to demonstrate their explicit recognition. The Kobuk- 

 miut and Nunamiut know the dippers and their habits because in 

 winter dippers frequent the open water of streams, places which the 

 Eskimos observe as dangerous for travelers and which they watch 

 for signs of fish. The two slightly differing Kobukmiut and Nuna- 

 miut names for dippers were translated for me as meaning "old 

 woman sunk." 



Family TURDIDAE: Thrushes, Solitaires, Bluebirds 



Sheldon's report to me that olive-backed thrushes {Hylocichla ustu- 

 lata) were distinguished from gray-cheeked thrushes at Kobuk, and 

 nested there, is new. His description seemed to differentiate the 

 bird and its nest from H. minima, but he had no explicit name, using 

 that {Beeauh) which is also applied to H. minima,. It would not be 

 surprising to find H. ustulata incana at Kobuk for I have collected it 

 at Bettles, 140 miles east in the same latitude, and at Old Crow. It 

 seems probable to me that Sheldon's report from Kobuk will be con- 

 firmed, but I consider it as yet uncertain evidence for inclusion of 

 olive-backed thrushes in the regular avifauna. 



I have found the bluethroat {Luscinia svecica) once, at Ahlasuruk 

 (L. Irving and Paneak, 1954) , although I have searched for it in the 

 Brooks Range. It has recently been found to be rather common in the 

 Colville Valley (Kessel, Cade, Schaller, 1953) . The interesting range 

 of this small migrant to Alaska from Asia, thus far only found outside 

 the tree line, prompts curiosity as to whether it enters the forested 

 areas of Alaska. I have found no trace of Eskimo acquaintance with 

 the very distinctive blue-throat, although it has now been reported 

 to be rather conunon along the northern border of the country of the 

 Kobuk people and probably occurs through much of the country 

 formerly occupied by the Nunamiut. 



Oenanthe oenanthe oenanthe (Linnaeus) 



The wheatear is well known among Nunamiut and is apparently also 

 a part of Kobuk natural history, with the same name in both places. 

 While nesting, it is a shy bird of the rocky mountain sides in the 

 central part of the Brooks Range, where I have found it from Ajiak- 

 tuvuk to the Ahlasuruk and in intervening valleys. Kobuk hunters 

 for caribou and sheep know these areas, but they are not easy for a 

 stranger to examine. 



