[52.] BIRDS OF OREGON 



... In no instance do we find more richness and delicacy of plumage, with the most sweet 

 melody of voice, than in a new species of large bullfinch, which visits this section of country 

 in the spring. If these were domesticated, they would form a most valuable addition to any 

 aviary. There are 8 species of woodpeckers, 4 of which are new; and of the swallow tribe 

 there are 5 species, one of which is new, and is the most beautiful of the family, character- 

 ized by a splendid changeable green plumage on the head and back, while the other parts 

 are purple and white. About the middle of March the splendid little Nootka humming bird 

 makes his appearance, coming so suddenly, that you wonder from whence he came . . . .; 

 the neck of this beautiful bird presents fine variations of color; now it is ruby red, with a 

 metallic lustre; turn it, and the tints vary from purple to violet and crimson, according as 

 the light falls upon it. 



I pass over the mention of many genera, and still more numerous species of the different 

 birds of this region, as it is not my design to attempt a history of them, but only to give a 

 succinct sketch, that some idea may be formed of the ornithological treasures of this inter- 

 esting country. 



Throughout the early years of Oregon's history, trappers and adven- 

 turers constantly passed through the country, but those men had scant 

 inclination to put on paper their experiences and observations. The 

 journals of General John Charles Fremont concerning his historic 1843 

 trip over the Blue Mountains, down the Columbia to The Dalles, up the 

 Deschutes, thence into the Klamath Marsh (Summer Lake), and south- 

 eastward out of Oregon toward Pyramid Lake, Nevada, furnish prac- 

 tically no information about the bird life of the region, although they are 

 filled with botanical and geological notes. 



GOVERNMENT SURVEYS, 1855 



THE PACIFIC RAILROAD survey reports, based on the notes of many survey- 

 ing parties in the West, contain the first definite papers of importance in 

 Oregon ornithology. A surveying crew under Lieutenant R. S. William- 

 son entered Oregon on August u, 1855, near Tule Lake (then known as 

 Rhett Lake). This party was accompanied by Dr. John Strong Newberry, 

 who published his notes made in California and Oregon on the zoology 

 of the route in Volume VI (1857) of the ponderous survey tomes. After 

 exploring the Klamath basin, the expedition worked north onto the 

 headwaters of the Deschutes looking for a practical pass through the 

 Cascades. At this point the party split for a time, Williamson remaining 

 in the Cascades while a detachment under Lieutenant Henry L. Abbot 

 made a trip to The Dalles and to the head of the Deschutes. After their 

 return the party again separated, Williamson and his group crossing the 

 Cascades south of Diamond Peak and following down the Willamette 

 and thence northward to Vancouver, from which point Williamson sailed 

 for San Francisco. Meanwhile, Abbot, accompanied by Newberry, 

 worked north along the Deschutes, explored the country about Black 

 Butte and Mount Jefferson, worked slowly northward to Tygh Valley, 

 and then crossed the Cascades south of Mount Hood. They were one of 

 the first groups, if not the very first, to use this particular route. After a 



