eastern and northern Gulf, with a peak, from June through August ( BLM 1978a). 

 The peak tends to be later farther east and falls in August and September (BLM 

 1978b). The area becomes progressively wetter from the southwest to the north 

 and central portions of the northern Gulf. The driest area of the Texas coast 

 extends from Brownsville north to about Corpus Christi; the most humid area from 

 Galveston to the Sabine River (Chaney et al. 1978). Average annual precipita- 

 tion ranges from about 69 cm (27 in) at Brownsville to 137 cm (54 in) at New 

 Orleans (BLM 1978a) and 170 cm (67 in) in Mobile (BLM 1978b). 



Tropical storms and hurricanes that often ravage coastal habitats are reg- 

 ular during late summer and fall and enter the Gulf largely through the Yucatan 

 Channel and Straits of Florida (BLM 1978a). Southeasterly winds predominate 

 over the northern Gulf during the summer. Easterlies are more common during 

 the winter, and prevailing winds from the west and southwest are rare at any 

 time of year (BLM 1978a). 



METHODS 



Most of the information was obtained by a standard literature search. Ad- 

 ditional information on oiling of individual species of birds and their distri- 

 bution was obtained through examination of museum specimens and interviews , but 

 these were not major sources. Several computerized information retrieval sys- 

 tems were investigated but the data did not meet our needs. These sources were 

 particularly weak on the local distribution of birds, much of which is to be 

 found in regional journals not covered by computer services; the temporal cover- 

 age was also inadequate for this study. Visual searches of periodicals "proved 

 far more productive from the standpoint of both numbers of citations and thor- 

 oughness of the search", as Bartonek and Lensink (1978) pointed out in a review 

 and bibliography of the literature of marine birds of Alaska. 



We obtained literature citations primarily by scanning the literature and 

 by consulting bibliographies in relevant papers. The primary sources for the 

 journals, books, and papers were the libraries and reprint files of the Bird 

 Divisions of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. and the American Mu- 

 seum of Natural History, New York. Other major sources of information were the 

 library of the Department of the Interior, the Library of Congress, and the 

 Bird Library and reprint files of the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, 

 Maryland. The Welder Wildlife Foundation, Sinton, Texas, and the library of 

 government publications and reports maintained by the National Coastal Ecosys- 

 tems Team, Slidell, Louisiana, were particularly rich sources of information 

 otherwise difficult to obtain. Unpublished reports and papers were obtained 

 from: the Florida Audubon Society, Vero Beach; the Florida Fish and Game Com- 

 mission, Gainesville; and Everglades National Park, Homestead; and other indi- 

 viduals listed in the acknowledgments. Several dozen valuable but unpublished 

 theses were obtained from several educational institutions. 



Searches were made of several secondary sources of literature citations. 

 Literature review sections of major ornithological journals, particularly The 

 Auk, The Ibis, and Bird-Banding, were especially useful, as was Wildlife Review. 

 We also made extensive use of Current Contents, Oil Pollution Abstracts, and 



