50 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 76 



(two nests) each on 16-21 June 1987 (B.J. McCaffery, personal commu- 

 nication). White and Boyce (1978) found one nest with one egg on the 

 Kisaralik River and seven nests containing young. These seven nests 

 included one nest with two young on the Fog River, five nests with two 

 young each and one nest with one young on the Kisaralik River, one nest 

 with one young on the Eek River, and one nest with three young on the 

 Kanektok River. 



We found 96 food items in June-September at the Tuluksak River 

 nests: 44 arctic ground squirrels, 36 hares, 7 ptarmigans, 4 spruce grouse, 

 2 grouse or ptarmigan chicks, 2 small rodents, and 1 hoary marmot 

 (Marmota caligata). Prey remains from two nests at the Tuluksak River 

 in 1980 contained 23 hares, 4 red squirrels, and 3 spruce grouse (Mindell 

 1983). 



American kestrel (Falco sparverius), VRv, VRsr. 



M. J. Fry (unpublished) reported a single kestrel at Kagati Lake on 

 20 August 1962; J. L. Hout (unpublished) found and released a male that 

 had been struck by a truck at Goodnews Mining Camp on 14 September 

 1971 , and we saw a male at Cape Peirce on 27 August 1976 and an adult 

 on the Tuluksak River in July 1986. Kestrels nested at the Tuluksak River 

 in the 1950's and 1960's and in 1982 (C. Clark, Jr., and J. Birch, personal 

 communication); in spring 1982 several birds were seen, and a male that 

 was trapped inside a gold dredge was handled and released by J. Birch 

 (personal communication). At the Tuluksak River, we found 0. 5 ±0.3 

 pairs per year (A'^ = 10 years). American kestrels do not generally occur 

 in our area (Gabrielson and Lincoln 1959). 



Merlin (Falco colutnbarius), Usr (5 May-25 August). 



Merlins nested only in the Kilbuck Mountains at the Tuluksak (DNW 

 photo) and Kisaralik rivers and probably at the Salmon River. M. J. Fry 

 (unpublished) found adult pairs at Kagati Lake in the Ahklun Mountains. 

 White and Boyce (1978) found one adult male and one adult female along 

 the Kisaralik River in 1977, and B. J. McCaffery and R. D. Ernst (unpub- 

 lished) reported a merlin nest they found on 20 June 1987 with at least 

 three young in an abandoned black-billed magpie (Pica pica) nest. Merlin 

 were also seen at the Kisaralik River on 1 1 (one bird), 15 (two birds), and 

 23 (one bird) August 1985 (M. Brown et al., unpublished) and the Eek 

 River on 21 June 1985 (one bird; M. Brown et al., unpublished). 



Nesting territories in the Kilbuck Mountains were 300-330 m asl on 

 lower, south-facing slopes of steep hills. Seven territories were at the 

 upper, scrubby edge of birches, and two territories were in lower parts 

 of subalpine willow-alder shrub habitats (used only in the very warm 

 summer of 1977). The nest found by B. J. McCaffery and R. D. Ernest 



