180 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NATURAL HISTORY OF ALASKA. 



Incubation lasts ten to thirteen days. Tlie young birds are fed exclusively on insect food. 

 They are able to fly in fifteen to eighteen days after hatching. 



The earliest birds sometimes hatch two broods of young in aseason, as young just able to fly 

 have been observed as late as August 18th. 



By the 1st of September the birds of this species collect into small flocks, of eight to twenty 

 in number, and remain until as late as September 21st, at which date they have about all disappeared. 

 They generally signalize their readiness to depart by assembling on the low banks, bordering the 

 beach, and dart high into the air to return to the same, or similar, place after a few minutes time. 

 At this particular season of the year they are extremely wary and difficult of approach. The only 

 note ever heard was an impatient chirp, uttered only while on the wing. On the ground the 

 bird walks, with a screwing motion, the head and neck moving back and forward with each 

 step, while the tail is constantly tilting up and down. 



There are no seasonal differences in the adults, the coloration of the male being only brighter 

 than that of the female. The young assume the adult plumage only on the second year, or at least 

 after they have departed from this region. 



The nests and eggs were obtained after much difficulty. 



I endeavored to procure the parents of some nests for certainty of identification, and not until 

 a native suggested to me to place a slip-noose over the entrance did I succeed in catching every 

 one 1 desired. 



The range of this bird is strictly littoral, and includes the outlying islands near the mainland. 

 It was observed at Saint Michaels, Yukon River mouth, Kuskokvim River mouth, and Nushagak 

 on Bristol Bay during the breeding season. 



I once observed the bird on Attu Island (the westernmost of the Aleutian Chain) on Sunday, 

 October 8, 1880. I chased the bird up and down for two hours, but was not able to get near 

 enough for a shot, as it was very wild. It was evidently on the fall migration, and none were seen 

 after that day. It does not remain on the Aleutian Islands during the breeding season. 



The Eskimo name of this bird is Pslui hull and refers to its note. 



A comparison of this species with the European bird shows but little difference, it being only 

 in the amount of dark on the upper breast, and the amount of gray on the head, though this varies 

 extremely in the Alaskan specimens. 



697. Anthus pensilvanicus (Lath.). American Pipit. 



The American Pipit occurs throughout the Territory of Alaska, including the Aleutian 

 Islands. 



It is found in greatest abundance in the interior of the mainland, especially in the neighbor 

 hood of Fort Yukon. In rarely visits Saint Michael's except in the fall. 



On the Aleutian Islands it prefers the higher hills. Those whose tops are bare of vegetation 

 seem to be their favorite resort. They breed wherever found in summer. A pair collected in 

 August, 1878, at Unalashka Island, were knowu to have nested on the high hills just east of the 

 graveyard. I searched many times for the nest, but failed to find it, and then shot the birds. 



Their note is a peculiar whistling straiu of a high key, and uttered only as the bird flies from 

 one peak to another. When sitting on the ground a chirp resembling the chirp of B. flavus is 

 uttered. 



At Attu Island I saw this bird in the early part of September, 1880. The bird alighted for 

 a moment on a little eminence of a high plateau at the head of Massacre Bay, on the south side 

 of this island. Not having a gun with me I could not secure the bird. It is not at all abundant 

 at that place, as it was the only one seen there. 



At Atkha Island I saw a pair of these birds which evidently had a nest on the top of the 

 high hills back of the head of Nazan Bay. Another individual was seen on the uorthwest side of 

 the same bay. I heard it singing and scaled a steep bluff of near 800 feet high to secure the bird. 

 It must have been disturbed by my presence, for just as I arrived at the top and stopped, to take a 

 moment's breath, the bird took a long flight and was lost to sight and hearing. 



[699.] Anthus cervinus (Pallas). Meadow Pipit. [See Plate IX.] 

 A single specimen of this bird was obtained by Messrs. Dal! and Bannister at Saint Michael's. 



