Identifier: reportuponnatura00nelso (find matches)
Title: Report upon natural history collections made in Alaska : between the years 1877 and 1881
Year: 1887 (1880s)
Authors: Nelson, Edward William, 1855-1934 Henshaw, Henry W. (Henry Wetherbee), 1850-1930 True, Frederick William, 1858-1914 Bean, Tarleton H. (Tarleton Hoffman), 1846-1916 Edwards, William H. (William Henry), 1822-1909
Subjects: Zoology Birds
Publisher: Washington : Government Printing Office
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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ill farther north tothe extended open country bordering the shores of the Arctic. At the Yukon delta, on May 31,1879, a pair was found mated and evidently about to nest, from tbe manner in which they greetedmy invasion of their haunt. The last days of May, and sometimes the first of June, they are rather common in flocks andsmall parties on the dry hill-sides about Saint Michaels, but tbcy are never abundant and arealways rather shy. Their long, mellow whistle is a familiar sound at this time, and is a pleasantnote amid the many harsh tuougli joyous cries from the lusty throats of the various waterfowl. They are soon gone, except a stray pair here and there; but early in August, as tbe bine-berries and crow-berriesbegin to ripen, flocks of this and tbe following species come down, youngand old, from their summer homes, and remain during most of August, until they are fat and heavythrough much feeding. Early in September they are on their way still further south, and are seen Plate ix.
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BIEDS. 121 no more iiutil the fuUowiug season. It migrates, to some exteut, by way of Sitka, where Bischofftook a specimeu. It occurs throughout tlie Alaskan maiidand, but is uuknowu on the islands ofBerin- Sea Dall found it common about the Yukon month in spring, and records its favoriteattitude to be perching, with one leg drawn up, on a high stnmp, i^iece of drift-wood, or even an alder bush. The adult spring birds have the feathers on the back with dark centers and regular and ratherobscure edgiugs of bufty brown. Autumnal birds, especially the young, have the edgings of thedorsal-feathers broken into distinct spots of buffy, which encroach on the dark centers, and pro-duce a much brighter and more variegated pattern than is seen on the adult. The bills of thebirds of the year are also runch slenderer and shorter than in the adult. Below, adult and youngare much alike. Along the Arctic coast of British America these Curlews are abundant, and in winter theyextend their range far in

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