242 Kansas Academy of Science. 



BIRDS OF THE OLYMPIC PENINSULA, WASHINGTON.^ 



By Abert B. Reagan, Ex-supervisingr Warden of the Olympic Bird Reserves. 



THE Olympic peninsula extends from Gray's Harbor, latitude 

 46° 56' north, to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, latitude 48° 24' 

 north. The region, as to the habitation of birds, divides itself into 

 parts or belts : the islands along the coast ; the coastal mainland 

 region ; the middle-upland country up to an elevation of 4000 feet; 

 and the mountain district. As the observer vs^ill note, the high 

 mountains form a circular area forty miles in diameter and 6000 to 

 8000 feet in height in the east-central part of the peninsula. From 

 these mountains there extends northwestward to Cape Flattery a 

 ridge ranging from 4000 to 1000 feet in elevation as one approaches 

 the cape. The coastal strip is about twelve miles wide, skirting 

 both the ocean and strait. The middle-upland region lies between 

 the coastal strip and the mountain district. The whole mainland 

 country is yet settled sparsely, hence is a paradise for birds. A 

 dense underbush covers the land everywhere, so that the country 

 might be said to be a jungle. For this reason birds in the interior 

 region are hard to find, but along the coast and in the island dis- 

 tricts they are in evidence. 



The zones have a varied bird life. Mostly snow birds are found 

 in the mountain zone. The middle upland zone has the meadow 

 lark, robin, mourning dove, and so on. The lowland belt has a 

 mixture of both land and sea birds, though as a rule only the land 

 birds and ducks nest in this region. The island birds are prac- 

 tically all sea fowl. 



On account of their prominence in bird life, the islands of the 

 Pacific coast will receive further mention. They naturally divide 

 themselves into three large segregations. Each of these segrega- 

 tions was created a bird reserve by executive order of President 

 Theodore Roosevelt ; and from the time of the issuing of said 

 order till October 3, 1909, the author was supervising warden of 

 these reserves. It was while in charge of these that he made the 

 observations hereinafter recorded. The reserves are designated by 

 the executive order as Copalis Rock reserve, Quillayute Needles 

 reserve, and Flattery Rocks reserve. Copalis Rock reserve is near 

 Grenville (Tabola), about thirty miles north of Gray's Harbor. 



1. The only treatise that mentions the bird« of this region, so far as the writer can learn, 

 are Dr. W. Leon Dawson's "Birds of Washington," and the same author's "Bird Colonies of the 

 Olympiades," in The Auk. for April, 1908, vol. XXV. pp. 153-166. 



