162 Anthony on Birds of Washington County, Oregon. [April 



to this part of the i^egioii being covered by a very dense growth of 

 fir and pine, and hicking suitable bodies of water. The western 

 half of the county, however, is more open, and has a few streams 

 and ponds. The only body of water of any size is Wapita Lake, 

 a large, shallow marsh, which is dry during the summer months. 

 Here w^ater birds fairly swarm during the fall, winter, and spring, 

 and a few were found nesting along the stream that drains the 

 lake. 



The coast mountains, which border this region on the west, 

 doubtless contain manv species not to be found elsewhere in the 

 county, but unfortunately I was vmable to visit this locality. 



My observations extended from February, 1S84, to June, 1885, 

 and were made mostly in the vicinity of Beaverton, in the eastern 

 part of the county. Two days were spent in the central part, at 

 Wapita Lake, early in November, but as the water birds had 

 hardly begun to arrive, the list is necessarily very incomplete. A 

 few birds, such as Olor americanus^ O. bticcutator, and Ber- 

 nicla niorrescens are found in lars'e numbers on the Columbia 

 River, but are only seen in Washington County as they fly over 

 during migrations, and are found on rare occasions on Wapita 

 Lake. Other species, as Pandion halia'etiis carol hieiisis^ Grus 

 mexicana^ and Grus americana were more or less common in 

 other parts of the State, but were only seen in the county as they 

 flew over in spring and fall, none being known to stop. 



Altnough the winters are usually very mild, with very little if 

 any snow, on December 11, 1884, a very heavy snow storm set 

 in, accompanied by higli wind from the northwest, lasting for 

 nearly three weeks, with hardly an intermission. Such a storm 

 was something vniheard of in this part of the State, and it had 

 the effect of driving a great many of our winter birds south, and 

 doubtless other species that would have wintered with us were 

 driven past unnoticed. After the storm, large numbers of Stur- 

 nella magna neglect a ^ and Oreortyx p ictus were found dead, 

 either frozen or starved. Regiilus calendula^ R. olivaceus, 

 Thryothorus bewickii spllurus. and Troglodytes hiejtialis paci- 

 Jicus, were not to be found at all after the storm, nor were they 

 noticed in any number during the spring migration, they having 

 chosen other routes north. 



The list with the exception of a few species whicli were 

 positively identified — one or two species of Hawks and Ducks 



