In the summers of 1951 and 1952 some data on birds were gathered
incidental to a study of the mammals of the Arctic Slope of northern
Alaska (see Bee and Hall--Mammals of Northern Alaska ..., Univ. Kansas
Mus. Nat. Hist., Miscl. Publ., 8, March 10, 1956). Other students,
currently preparing comprehensive accounts of the birds of northern
Alaska, have urged that the information obtained in 1951 and 1952 be
made available. For that reason, and because relatively little is on
record concerning birds of the area visited, I have prepared the
following account. The aim is to include only non-published data
because the comprehensive accounts alluded to above, by others, can
more appropriately include data from previously published accounts.
The area is the treeless tundra delimited by the crest of the Brooks
Range to the south, the international boundary to the east and the
Arctic Ocean to the north and west.
Three hundred and fifty-one birds of 44 species (Nos. 30371-30866, and
31301-31355) were collected. Twenty-nine additional species were seen.
All specimens are skeletons, unless otherwise noted in the text, and
are catalogued and housed at the Museum of Natural History, University
of Kansas. Photographs are by the author.
The report results from a contract (Nonr-38700) between the Office of
Naval Research and the Museum of Natural History of the University of
Kansas. Field headquarters were at the Arctic Research Laboratory at
Point Barrow, Alaska. Professor John Fields and Dr. Louis O. Quam of
the Office of Naval Research, Professor Ira L. Wiggins, Scientific
Director of the Arctic Research Laboratory, and Mr. M. R. Lipman of
the University of Kansas Regional Office of the Office of Naval
Research are four of the persons to whom I am deeply indebted. J. Knox
Jones, Jr., and Edward G. Campbell, students at the University of
Kansas, participated in the field work and deserve credit for a large
part of the accomplishment registered in the field.
The author is greatly indebted to Professor E. Raymond Hall for
assistance at many stages in the work. I am grateful to Professor
Harrison B. Tordoff for numerous suggestions and for verifying the
identifications of the specimens. The skeletons were identified by
measurement and comparison of feet, bills, and the dried, flat skins
that had been removed and labeled with the field numbers of the
corresponding skeletons. Where subspecific identification was
difficult because of the fashion in which the material was preserved
it should be understood that the subspecific name assigned was based
largely or entirely on geographic probability. This is wholly true for
sight records. Robert G. Bee read the manuscript in its entirety and
offered editorial comments and my wife, Annette, typed the manuscript
and made numerous corrections. The names of several other individuals
who rendered assistance appear at appropriate places in the following
pages.