STATUS AND DISTRIBUTION 251 



{Accipiter gentilis atricapillus) , and several great horned owls {Bubo 

 mrginianus lagophonus) have been found on the tundra in winter. 

 There is nothing remarkable about finding these birds on the tundra 

 in winter except that it has been too uncommon to be called a habit. 

 The group of birds listed below include some of those familiar 

 as residents in the northern borders of the forests but not reported on 

 the tundra : 



Bird Locality of observation 



Canachites canadensis osgoodi Savioyuk River 



Pedioecetes phasianellus Hunt Fork 



Surnia ulula caparoch Hunt Fork 



Strix nebulosa nebulosa Hunt Fork 



Picoides tridactylus fasciatus Hunt Fork 



Picoides arcticus Kobuk Village 



Parus hudsonicus hudsonicus Savioyuk River 



Bombycilla garrula pallidiceps Savioyuk River 



Loxia leucoptera ieucoptera Hunt Fork 



In the forest they occasionally encounter weather colder than any 

 that occurs on the tundra, so cold is not the barrier to their northern 

 dispersal. Among them the crossbills {Loxia leucoptera leucoptera) 

 are associated with spruce for feeding, and the three-toed wood- 

 peckers {Picoides) feed on tree trunks but not on branches. It is 

 likely that the exercise of certain essential habits requires trees and 

 thus these hardy, and in some cases wide-ranging, birds are held within 

 the border of the forests. 



Among the 73 species of birds shown in table 4 to migrate to or 

 through Anaktuvuk, 39 have been established as nesting by specimens 

 or photographs of eggs, downy young birds, or eggs ready to be laid, 

 found in collected female specimens. The behavior of birds demon- 

 strates their intentions to each other through sight and sound, senses 

 which we can appreciate, so that behavior gives reliable circumstantial 

 evidence for the breeding of birds. In 20 additional species, such 

 circumstantial evidence for breeding was regarded as conclusive indi- 

 cation of nesting, giving a total of 52 migratory and 7 resident species 

 nesting at Anaktuvuk. Evidence for the nesting of most of this 

 group of birds was obtained repeatedly and conformed with informa- 

 tion which Eskimo people gave me from former years. 



Some species are seen in different numbers each year, but the varia- 

 tion is not as noticeable as is the impression of regularity in the 

 annually repeated occupation of the Valley by each common species. 

 For example, the number of surf scoters observed varies greatly from 

 year to year and I know of only one locality in the mountains 

 (Chandler Lake) where the sight of young surf scoters has provided 

 evidence that they nest in the area. Their long establishment in the 

 mountains is shown by old Nunamiut accounts and the application 



