OLD CROW 197 



The male specimen was abnormally light and its testes measured only 

 5 mm., which is smaller than usual among breeding sandpipers. 



The lesser yellowlegs did not at any time seem to exceed the con- 

 siderable numbers which were found in the marshy area during nest- 

 ing time, and so there was no evidence for their migratory passage 

 through Old Crow. 



Yellowlegs migrate from their Mexican wintering places northward 

 chiefly through the interior, (A. O. U., Check-list, 1957). Since they 

 are abundant in autumn and scarce in spring transients in British 

 Columbia (Munro and Cowan, 1947) we may suspect that spring 

 migration to the northwestern Arctic is from the southeast. They had 

 reached Atlin on May 3, 1930, May 2, 1933, May 5, 1934 and May 3, 

 1935 (Swarth, 1936) ; Boss Post, May 11, 1930 (Rand, 1946) ; and 

 Anaktuvuk about May 17 in five years. It seems as if their spread to 

 arctic Alaska is either slow or reached by a different contingent of the 

 migratory population. 



The Indian name is Techuh. 



Erolia melanotos (Vieillot) 



Males Females 



Date 



WeigM 

 (ff.) 



Fat 



Testes 

 {mm.) 



Weight 

 (ff.) 



Fat 



Eggs 

 [mm.) 



May 23 



76.2 



VL 



6x13, 7x12 









May 24 



74.0 



N 



6.5x11.5, 7.5x11 









June 1 



96.7 



F 



8.5x16, 10x13 



53.6 

 54.8 

 57.7 

 63.8 

 61.1 

 53.2 

 52.7 

 58.5 

 57.4 

 61.5 

 57.0 



L 

 L 

 L 

 L 

 L 

 F 

 F 

 F 

 F 

 F 

 F 



4 



3 



4 



3 



4.5 



3 



3 



3 



4 



4 



2 



(aver.) 82.2 56.6 



A flock of eight pectoral sandpipers was seen on May 23. During 

 the next week from one to six were occasionally seen about the marshy 

 pools behind the village. The latest record was of a female shot on 

 June 11 but not preserved. Eggs were from three to five mm., so that 

 the females were approaching breeding condition. The testes of two 

 earlier male specimens were smaller than mature size but on June 1 

 they were full size. The pectoral sandpipers seen were evidently in 

 migration and there was no indication that they nested near Old Crow. 



The large variations in weight among male pectoral sandpipers are 

 not unusual. In a series of 25 weighed in spring at Anaktuvuk were 

 examples lighter and heavier than those weighed at Old Crow, In 

 both sexes the visible fatness was also conspicuous] y variable. Among 



