242 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 217 



international boundary to Circle (Bishop, 1900) and is not uncom- 

 mon in southern Yukon (Rand, 1946) . 



Calcarius lapponicus alascensis Ridgway 



Males Females 





Weight 



Fat 



Testes 



Date 



(s.) 





(mm.) 



May 4 



24.6 



MF 





Mays 



23.0 



F 



3.5x4.5, 3.5x4 



May 9 



28.4 



r 



4x5, 3x4 



May 13 



27.1 



LF 



5x7.5, 4.5x7 



May 14 



27.7 



MF 



5x6.5, 6x6 



May 17 











(aver.) 



26.2 







Weight Fat Eggs 



(g.) (mm.) 



24.3 F 1 



In contrast with the great flocks of longspurs which migrate 

 through the Alaskan Brooks Range, only a few small groups were 

 seen at Old Crow. The largest count recorded was four. From May 

 4 to May 12 only males were seen, and from then until May 24 an oc- 

 casional female was seen with a few males. Those seen at Old Crow 

 do not represent the great migration of longspurs as it is seen at 

 Anaktuvuk. They were lighter in average weight and with less fat. 

 The earliest arrivals (May 4) were apparently expected at Old Crow 

 by Joe Kay, who promptly obtained specimens, named them Shinjee, 

 in the Indian language, and described their singing. Their arrival 

 there is apparently part of a regular schedule, but the vicinity of 

 Old Crow does not provide the grasslands and tundra where longspurs 

 congregate in large numbers. 



Plectrophenax nivalis nivalis (Linnaeus) 



16 males Apr. 5-May21 weight 35.5-44.9, very fat (6), fat testes 1.5-4 mm. 



average (7), 40.3 (10), little fat (2) 



g., coeff. of var. 

 8.1% 



At Old Crow in 1957 the residents reported that snow buntings 

 had first reached there about the middle of March. Their name for 

 the bird is Kukuzu. After we arrived on April 2, a flock of 20 or 30 

 was usually to be seen along the river bank in front of the village 

 feeding among the accumulated debris of the winter. This rubbish 

 contained little food which could please a small seed-eating bird, and 

 the interest of these earliest migrants to the Arctic was more likely in 

 weed seeds than in garbage. 



Some flocks were followed back and forth for a mile along the river 

 bank, a few hundred yards at a move. The flocks often showed their 

 attraction to the village by returning after starting to fly away. It 

 was suspected that some flocks remained for a day or longer, but it 

 could not be established by observation and pursuit that a flock re- 

 mained for longer than several hours. Most of the records are of 

 course from the village, but occasional observations along the river 

 and reports of Indians show that while the flocks probably congre- 



