176 Vol. XXII 
NOTES ON SOME BIRDS OF INTERIOR ALASKA 
By LEE RAYMOND DICE 
HILE serving as deputy warden in the Alaska Fisheries Service in 1911 
and 1912 a small collection of birds was made in interior Alaska and 
a number of notes on distribution and habits secured. These notes 
are being published with the permission of the United States Bureau of Fish- 
erles. 
Most of the observations here recorded were taken in the vicinity of Fair- 
banks and of Tanana, and along the Kuskokwim River from the head of the 
North Fork to Bethel. A few records of specimens taken at Fairbanks by 
Chief Warden H. J. Christoffers are included. The specimens collected are 
preserved with the Biological Survey collection in the United States National 
Museum. Descriptions of the region and of the various vertebrate habitats in 
interior Alaska are being published in a separate paper (Dice, L. R., Univ. 
Mich., Mus. Zool., Oce. Papers, no. 85, 1920). 
Thanks are due Dr. H. C. Oberholser for help in the identification of the 
speeimcns, and to Dr. Barton W. Evermann, then chief of the Alaska Fisheries 
Service, for his co-operation in the securing of the bird notes. 
Colymbus holbeoelli. Holboell Grebe. A number were seen on a lake near Lake 
Minchumina, June 23, 1912, a half-grown individual was shot on the lower Takotna | 
River August 2, and several adults were noted on the lakes of the Kuskokwim-Yukon 
portage near Kaltshak, September 1-4, at which time their weird calls were often heard 
at night. A specimen was taken by H. J. Christoffers at the mouth of the Salcha River, 
forty miles east of Fairbanks, October 11, 1911. 
Gavia stellata. Red-throated Loon. Frequently seen in the spring of 1912 on the 
Kuskokwim River at the head of the North Fork; the first pair appeared May 21.. July 
8 one was noted on the North Fork near the junction with the East Fork. They were 
abundant on the lower Takotna River on July 17 and August 2. August 8:an adult and 
seven well-grown young were seen diving in the Kuskokwim near Napaimut. 
Larus hyperboreus. Glaucous Gull. Common on river-bars along the Kuskokwim, 
from McGrath on July 16, to below Kaltshak on August 15, 1912. One was killed by 
prospectors in black spruces near the head of the North Fork, December 15, 1911, after 
a severe storm, but its occurrence in this habitat is apparently accidental. 
Larus brachyrhynchus. Short-billed Gull. Common on river-bars and rare at 
lake borders along the North Fork of the Kuskokwim River from May 13 down nearly 
to the East Fork, July 7, 1912. A number were seen May 9 on Lake Minchumina. 
Larus philadelphia. Bonaparte Gull. A large number were seen on the mud-bars 
about Lake Minchumina, May 9, 1912. 
Sterna paradisaea. Arctic Tern. An individual in white juvenile plumage flying 
over the Kuskokwim near the mouth of Swift River, was collected August 7, 1912. 
Anas platyrhynchos. Mallard. Common on the water and on the shores of lakes 
and streams of the Kuskokwim Valley from the head of the North Fork to Bethel. This 
was the first species cf duck to arrive in the spring of 1912; at the head of the North 
Fork small flocks arrived April 22 at a time when the ice was still in the river and 
when there were only a few spots of open water. A female with eight newly hatched 
ducklings was seen in this locality on a small lake and in sedges on June 9. Females 
and young swimming in the North Fork above the McKinley Fork were noted June 29. 
A female with five large young was seen above the East Fork, July 8. Nearly grown 
young were observed on the Takotna River, July 31. Several were seen August 5 about 
fifty miles below the mouth of the Takotna River. August 13 to 30 young and old in 
large flocks were abundant on the equisetum-covered mud-bars of the Kuskokwim from 
. a short distance below Aniak to Bethel. A few were noted cn lakes and sloughs cf the 
Kuskokwim-Yukon portage, September 1. 
