Birds Found on the Arctic Slope of Northern AlaskaBee, James W.
Science
Birds Found on the Arctic Slope of Northern Alaska
Bee, James W.
Birds -- Alaska
The second nest, superimposed on a nest of the previous year, held six
fresh eggs and was under an overhanging piece of tundra sod. The cup
was entirely beneath the sod but the outer rim of the nest was
exposed. The nest faced northwest and was 100 centimeters above the
general level of the tundra. Measurements, in millimeters, of this
nest were: height, 52; width, 120; inside diameter of cup, 50; depth
of cup, 30; width of layer of fine grasses and feathers of cup, 16. In
cross section successive layers of nest material from outside in were
as follows: mosses; old, dry, brownish-gray grasses; new, fine,
loosely arranged, yellow grasses; down feathers of the snowy owl. The
first two layers were on only one side and did not extend under the
cup of the nest. The cup was lined with 12 down feathers of the snowy
owl.
The third nest, containing six fresh eggs, was at the edge of a clump
of cotton-grass and was exposed from directly above. The lining of the
cup of white feathers and dry lichens was against the soil. Two layers
of dry brownish-gray grasses and dry mosses were outward extensions
from the cup.
The greater part of the third nest was stems of the grass _Dupontia
fischeri_; newer yellow stems were near the cup and the older stems
were toward the periphery. The measurements (in millimeters) of this
nest were: height, 60; width, 210; width of cup, 50; depth of cup, 40.
A fourth nest of three fresh eggs held four eggs the following day. A
fifth nest of six fresh eggs was only 10 centimeters from a well-used
trail of a brown lemming and within 1/3 of a meter from the
underground nest of the lemming. This longspur nest, among polygons of
low hummocks, was bordered by mosses and grasses nine inches high. The
sixth nest held five fresh eggs. Its top was flush with the ground and
the nest was protected by an overhead canopy of _Dupontia fischeri_. A
seventh nest, containing six fresh eggs, was among pieces of tundra
displaced by a vehicle. Only the outer edge of this nest was exposed
from above. The cup was lined with white feathers and with the hair of
_Rangifer_. On June 20, an eighth nest of five fresh eggs was located
near the above. The nest was 1/3 concealed under overhead protection.
At a point 1-2/5 miles south and 3/5 of a mile east of Barrow Village
(June 20, 1952) we examined a ninth nest, containing six fresh eggs,
among raised polygons. It was circular and the cup was centrally
placed. The entire nest weighed 14 grams; the inner cup of fine stems
of grass and white feathers weighed two grams. The nest was 118 mm
wide; the cup was 56 mm wide and 38 mm deep. The outer structure of
last year's nest, mosses and larger gray stems of grass, was 30 mm
wide. Enroute to this locality from Barrow Village we saw only two
longspurs (2:00 P.M.) and only three on the return trip.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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