With the Birds in Alaska 



By MRS. G. W. GASSER, Agricultural Experiment Station, Rampart, Alaska 



THIS has been such a wonderful bird year at this station that I am send- 

 ing you extracts from my notes, as several requests have come to me 

 for more Alaska information on this subject, since the publishing of my 

 first letter, more than a year ago. 



All through March and April the Snowflakes were abundant in the stack- 

 yards, and with them, in a stack-yard across the river, was a large flock of 

 what must have been Pine Grosbeaks, as nearly as can be determined from the 

 descriptions given me. I was not fortunate enough to see the flock but did 

 see several of the female birds, and they answered the description of the female 

 California Grosbeak. The owner of the oats in the yard shot between forty 

 and sixty of these intruders. Only one pair was seen on these grounds, and I 

 did not succeed in getting a glimpse of them. 



The first Robin was seen at the Station May ii, and the last one September 

 23, although one was heard the next day. Twenty-nine were counted one 

 evening in a field where fish ofi"al had been plowed in for fertilizer. On May 1 1 

 the first Rusty Blackbirds were heard and a few days later the stack-yard was 

 noisy with their clatter; they seemed to be everywhere. 



On May 12, a few Juncos appeared. They are never abundant here, and 

 with them were many Gambel's Sparrows. The woods around us are alive 

 with the latter every summer. Among the Juncos was one that was very much 

 smaller than the others and brown in color, instead of gray. 



The next day, the 13 th, a few Fox Sparrows arrived, a flock of Violet- 

 Green Swallows, a pair of Teal Ducks, one of Canada Jays, and an immense 

 flock of Longspurs. The latter were a small, rather faded species, not particu- 

 larly attractive, but a few days later they were joined by a larger, more 

 brilliantly colored variety. 



All of these birds were in a pitiful condition when they reached here, as the 

 snow was so deep in the woods at that date that they had not been able to 

 pick up food along the way, and many dead and dying ones were found in this 

 vicinity. One of these hungry little fellows, picked up in our front yard so 

 weak he could not stand, sits beside me on the floor as I write. Even a few 

 days on a diet of crumbs and grain did not restore the use of the little legs but 

 two meals of flies did the work, and gradually he regained his activity but not 

 the use of his wings. Pete, as he is called, was given the freedom of the glass 

 porch but it was fully three months before he attempted the use of his wings, 

 and then it was done very carefully. When offered his liberty by way of the 

 open door, he refused to take it and is spending a happy winter with the plants, 

 subsisting on whole-wheat bread crumbs, ground nut-meats and egg-yolks. 

 His bath and drinking-dishes must have sand in the bottom or he will not use 

 them. He always announces when he is about to take a plunge and seems to 

 demand an admiring audience. Recently he has been given a mirror and 



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