Birds and mammals of the Stikine river region of northern British Columbia and southeastern Alaska Volume 24

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1922 edition. Excerpt: ...yards or more. A weak, chattering note was uttered from time to time, but mostly the birds were silent. Seventeen specimens were obtained at Sergief Island (nos. 39794-39810), five males and twelve females. It might be supposed that a series of specimens taken when these birds were collected (August 19-30), would contain a large percentage of immatures, but if such young birds are inch1ded in the lot they possessed no features, either of internal anatomy or external coloration that enabled me definitely to recognize them as such. According to Drew (1882, p. 182) the young of this species is appreciably different from the adult in coloration, the dark feathers being extensively white-tipped, both above and below. Of the five males, two have extremely faint light colored tips to the feathers of the lower abdomen and on the lower tail coverts. One of the five has the tail very slightly forked, in the others it is deeply indented. Of the twelve females, one is uniformly dark colored; it has no trace of any whitish tips to the feathers of the lower parts. In the others such markings are present in varying degrees. The dark colored female has a truncate tail, just as do the others. In every individual, both male and female, the sexual organs were clearly visible. They were shrunken in size, as would be expected in adults at that season, but they were never difficult to see, as is so often the case with young birds. The birds collected had entirely finished the annual molt and were all in the new plumage. Chaetura vauxi (J. K. Townsend). Vaux Swift On June 26 a single bird was noted some five miles from Telegraph Creek. At Doch-da-on Creek, the middle of July, a few were seen on several different days. At Flood Glacier, August 3 and 5, several were...