Notes on the Birds of Southampton Island, Baffin Island and Melville Peninsula

504 BRAY,Birds of SouthamptonIsland, etc. L[Auk Oct. 17ORBUSH,EDWARD Hov• 1929. Birds of Massachusettsand Other New England States, 3: 29-32. (Mass. State Dept. of Agriculture.) •RISCOM, LUDLOW 1938. The Birds of Lake Umbagog Region of Maine (compiled from diaries and journalsof William Brewster). Bull. Mus. Comp. Zo51.,66: 534-536. MERRIAM, C. HART 1878. Breeding of the Pine Linnet in Northern New York. Forest and Stream, I0: 463. 1%TEWENGLAND MUSEUM OF !XTATURALHISTORY 1941. Bulletin of New England Bird Life, Jam-June. ROBERTS,THolVlAS S. 1936. Birds of Minnesota, 2: 364-367. (Univ. of Minn. Press.) SUTTON, GI•ORGE m. 1928. Birds of Pymatuning Swamp and Conneaut Lake, Crawford County, Pennsylvania. Ann. Cam. Mus., 18:19-239 (½f.p. 174). Sv,•N•r, MYRON H. 1929. The Pine Siskin in Nebraska. Wils. Bull., 41: 77-92. TODD, W. E. CLYDE 1940. The Birds of Western Pennsylvania: 614-617. (Univ. of Pitts. Press., Pittsburgh, Penna.) WALKINSHAW, LAWRENCEH. 1939. Life History Studies of the Eastern Goldfinch. Jack Pine Warbler, 17: 19-20. WaXGHT, HORACE W. 191I. The Birds of the JeffersonRegion, in the White Mountains of New Hamp- shire. Manchester Inst. Arts &Sci., 5 (I): 64. Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF SOUTHAMPTON ISLAND, BAFFIN ISLAND AND MELVILLE PENINSULA BY REYNOLD BRAY (WITHCOMMENTS BY T. H. MANNING) REYNOLDBRAY was drownedon September14, 1938, when on his fourth visit to Arctic regions. His obituary was written for 'The Auk' by McAtee (Auk, 57: 139-140, 1940). The presentsummary of the resultsof Bray's ornithologicalwork while a member of the British Canadian Arctic Expedition betweenMay, 1936, and Sep- tember, 1937,was originally intended for his own use in further work he had plannedfor the sameregions rather than for publication;but sincenone of it has previouslybeen published,it is here presented in full and unchangedexcept for minor editorial corrections. Vol.60] BRAY,Birds o[ SouthamptonIsland, etc. 505 The Expedition left Churchill by whaleboaton June 3, and trav- ellednorth alongthe westcoast of HudsonBay to SouthamptonIsland. On June 23, Bray wasleft near the SnowGoose colony at the Bay of God'sMercy. He waspicked up againon August28 on the way to RepulseBay. We arrived there on October 12, after coastingup the westside of SouthamptonIsland and visitingYork Bay and Frozen Strait. On December21, Bray, accompaniedby G. W. Rowley,left for Iglulik by dog team. During that winter he travelledto Piling on the west,and Arctic Bay on the north coastof BaffinIsland. He spent the following spring and summer in the region of Fury and Hecla Strait, first at Agu Bay and later at Iglulik and the nearby mainland of Melville Peninsula. In his summary,Bray frequently refers to earlier works dealing with SouthamptonIsland, Melville Peninsula and west Baffin Island. Where known, I have inserted the citations for these references. I have also added some remarks on distribution to bring the paper up to date for the area chiefly discussed.When not otherwisestated, these are from my notesmade during the four years (1936-1940)spent in this region, chiefly at Frozen Strait, SeahorsePoint, and Taverner Bay. All suchadditional notes are in squarebrackets. T. H. MANNING COMMONLOON, Gavia immer immer (Briinnich).--Inthe springof' 1936,a large loon was taken near the Hudson'sBay Company'spost at RepulseBay. I was told that the nativeshad been very surprised, and had said that they had never heard of sucha bird. Parts of the skin were kept for a time, but there was nothing left of it when we reachedthe post in the fall, so that I have no data to suggestwhich of the two large loonswas represented. The presentspecies is quite common on the north shore of Hudson Strait, and in the Nettilling Lake area in westernBaffin Island [Soper,1928: 76], but on the west side of Hudson Bay it barely stragglesnorth to Churchill. The Yellow-billedLoon, G. adamsi,was recorded by J. c. Ross[cf. Sutton, 1932: 13] from Boothia Peninsula, but there are no other records north or eastof BakerLake. [A singlespecimen was taken at Munk Islandby G. W. Rowleyin 1939 (Taverner1941). BetweenHantzsch River and Straits Bay Common Loons were fairly numerous,but none were definitely identified north of the latter place, although I thought I heard one at Piling. Neither Sutton (1932: 13) nor I observedany on SouthamptonIsland, but the Eskimosare quite familiar with it, and say it definitely occursthere occasionally.Mr. Bowes, the Canadian Government radio operator at Nottingham 506 BRA,Birds o! SouthamptonIsland, etc. [Oct.Auk Island in 1938, told me there were three speciesof loons on that island.-T. H. M.] REt>-TI•ROAT•t>LOON, Gavia stellata (Pontoppidan).--I never grew accustomed to the abundance of these loons. On the low limestone marshlandeast of Crozier River, on Abadyar, Nerdlonaktoq,and Iglulik Islands,and in the lessrugged parts of the granite country northwest of QuillJam Creek, Red-throated Loons breed on almost every lake. Only watersso small that a bird in the middle would be almostwithin shotgunrange are commonlyunoccupied. They comenorth fairly early,a pair reachingIglulik Islandon June 3. I first sawnewly hatched young at the mouthof CrozierRiver on July 24. On August7, a native broughtme a youngloon not more than 48 hoursold. I consideredthis an exceptionallylate date. Of eleven nestswithin a few milesof the headof Quilliam Creek,only onewas on the mainland; the otherswere built on small grassyislands close to the main shore of the shallow lakes. They were constructedfrom decomposingvegetable stems, and were invariably so infestedby flies and mosquitoesthat the eggsseemed to lie in a gray massof insects. They were the most revolting homesI have ever seen. In 1936I found this speciesabundant on the islandsin the mouth of BoasRiver, not only amongstthe geese,but on the small muddy islandsat the edge of the open bay where their companionswere American Brant and Herring Gulls. As in 1937, the first young hatchedon July 24. On August10 I collectedtwo youngbirds which were still entirely coveredwith down, althoughthey had grown to nearly three-quartersthe length of their parents. Owing to the ab- senceof standingwater, there were no loonsbreeding on the tundra west of the river as far as the limestone-ridgearea, where there were at least two pairs. I last saw loons in 1936 on September18 at Cape Munn. Kak-kak-kak-kak-kak,the hoarse laugh of the Red-throatedLoon is one of the most notable of the tundra sounds,and generallyserves to distinguishthis speciesfrom the next; the othercalls, uttered more often from the water, I never learned to separate,but I have never heard a startledRed-throated Loon squealon diving, as the Pacific Loons almostalways do. PACIFICLOON, Gavia arctica pacifica (Lawrence).--Thisis a more locally distributedspecies than the last, and has not yet been recorded north of LancasterSound. It is the common breeding loon at Churchill,but is very rare on the southshore of HudsonStrait. Soper[1928: 77] foundit fairly commonin southernBaffin Island, Vol.•o] BE*Y,Birds of SouthamptonIsland, etc. 507 •94• .• DEVON I. /'4 o, •,s ,w ,,oo T•'• 500 •qO •0. COGKI LAND AGUI GULF:: or:: , $,00•LIT I. FOX E A P.,GTIC ½ ,-n 'BAS1 N o • FOXE TEXT-FIGURE1.--Map of region visited by Reynold Bray in 1936-1937. 508 BRAY,Birds of SouthamptonIsland, etc. L[Auk Oct. and Sutton states that it is as numerous as stellata in the south-east part of SouthamptonIsland. [Sutton (1932: 14) saysthat "The PacificLoon is an abundantand widelydistributed summer resident all along the south and south-westshores of Southampton. ." Speakingof the Red-throatedLoon (1932: 18) he says:"Scarcely so commonas the PacificLoon in the regionof Coral Inlet and Prairie Point. At CapeLow, however,it wasthe commoner..."--T. H. M.]. In 1936it wasmuch less common than the smallerspecies at the Bay of God's Mercy; I found two nestsonly, both of them on islandsin the mouth of BoasRiver. Eggsin the first nest I found, hatched-- one on July 22, the other on July 24. In the regionof Fury and Hecla Strait the proportionof arcticato stellata appearedto be a little higher than at the Bay of God'sMercy. Of four breedingpairs, one nestedbetween the granite ridgesabout eight miles south of Fury and Hecla narrows,two on the low lime- stonetundra east of Crozier River, and one pair used to fish off the southeastpoint of Iglulik Island through the last half of August. Parry saw a pair on NerdlonaktoqIsland [I cannot find this refer- ence, but Parry (1824: 435) mentionsboth 'Black and Red-throated Divers' at Arlagnuk.--T. H. M.] and the nativestold me the species nestson Iglulik Island. One of the nests near Crozier River con- tained one egg on July 22, two daysbefore the hatchingof the Red- throatedLoons on the next pond; there were two when I next visited the nest a week later. The voice of this loon is particularly varied and weird; one common cry reminded me of the laughing Arctic fox. If surprised,it often gives a very expressivesqueal, like an animal in the greatest possiblepain, the instant before it dives. [In general,I think arctica is lesscommon than stellata on South- amptonIsland and the north shoreof FrozenStrait. In West Baffin Island, betweenTaverner Bay and Piling, it appearedto be the commoner. Both speciesare very uncommonon the Great Plain of the Koukdjuak.--T. H. M.] HOLSOELL'SGRES•, Colymbusgrisegena holboelli (Reinhardt).-- Manning preserveda single specimenwhich had been obtained by nativesfrom South Bay, SouthamptonIsland, in 1934. This seems to be the only record of the specieson or north of Hudson Strait. ATLaNTiCFULM•,R, Fulmarus glacialis glacialis (Linnaeus).--Prob- ably occursrarely in the northern part of Foxe Basin. [Hantzsch (Hesse1915: 145) saw one on October2, 1910, on the shoreof Foxe Basin,presumably near the mouthof the KoukdjuakRiver.--T.

Load more