Nelson on the. Black Brant. 
T 3i 
HABITS OF THE BLACK BRANT IN THE VICINITY 
OF ST. MICHAELS, ALASKA. 
BY E. W. NELSON. 
The long reign of ice and snow begins to yield to the mild 
influence of the rapidly lengthening days ; the middle of May 
is reached, and the midnight sky over the northern horizon 
blushes with delicate rose tints, changing to purple toward the 
zenith. Fleecy clouds passing slowly across the horizon seem to 
quiver and glow with lovely hues only to fade to dull leaden 
again as they glide from the reach of fair Aurora. The land, so 
lately snow-bound, becomes dotted with pools of water and the 
constantly narrowing borders of the snow soon make room for the 
Waterfowl which, with eager accord, begin to arrive in abun¬ 
dance, some upon lagging wings, as if from far away^ others 
making the air resound with joyous notes as they recognize some 
familiar pond where, for successive seasons, they have reared 
their young in safety, or, perhaps, a favorite feeding ground. At 
this time the White-fronted and Hutchins’s Geese take precedence 
in numbers though, to be sure, they have been preceded for two 
weeks by the hardy Pintail Duck, the Common Swan and, lastly, 
that ornithological harlequin, the Sandhill Crane, whose loud 
rolling note is heard here and there as it stalks gravely along, 
dining upon the last year’s berries of Empetrum nigrum , when, 
meeting a rival, or perchance one of the fair sex, he proceeds to 
execute a burlesque minuet. 
A few days later, upon the mirror-like bosoms of myriads 
of tiny lakelets, the graceful Northern Phalaropes flit here and 
there or swim about in pretty companies. At length, about the 
20th of May, the first Barn Swallow arrives and then we begin 
to look for the Black Brant, the “ Nimkbe” as it is called by the 
Russians, the ^Luk-lug'-u-nuk” of the Norton Sound Eskimo. 
Ere long the avant-courier is seen in the form of a small flock 
of ten or- fifteen individuals which skim along close to the ice 
heading directly across Norton Sound to the vicinity of Cape 
Nome, whence their route leads along the low coast to Port 
Clarence where, I am told by the natives, some stop to breed ; but 
the majority press on and seek the ice bordered northern shore 
