[88] BIRDS OF OREGON 



in the State, few people have seen them alive on the wing. They are 

 present on the Oregon coast from May to November (earliest date, May 

 9; latest, November 2.5) and possibly through the winter, although we 

 have no direct evidence on this point and little is known of their where- 

 abouts or migrations. Occasionally, at least, in common with the other 

 sea birds, they suffer from severe storms. Between May 9 and n, 1916, 

 Mrs. R. C. Neilson found numbers of them dead on the ocean beach of 

 the Netarts Sand Spit, and Gabrielson found remains of xi on the beach 

 between Netarts and Three Arch Rocks on November 19 and 2.0, 102.1, 

 during the same big storm that was responsible for the destruction of so 

 many Pacific Fulmars on the Oregon coast. 



Beal's Petrel: 



Oceanodroma leucorhoa beali Emerson 



DESCRIPTION. "Uniform sooty brown, washed with a bluish slate-gray on head, 

 throat, chest and back, the gray most pronounced on head and chest; forehead, chin 

 and upper throat decidedly ashy; greater and median wing-coverts edged with ashy; 

 upper tail coverts white with black shafts; lateral lower coverts edged with whitish; 

 rectrices black with white at base." (Emerson, 1906) Downy young: "When first 

 hatched it is covered with long, soft, thick down varying from 'hair brown' at the 

 base to 'smoke gray' at the tips." (Bent, in describing the young of Leach's Petrel, 

 which applies equally well to this subspecies.) "Si%e: Male, wing 5.90, tail 3.10, 

 forking of tail 0.80, tarsus 0.87. Female, wing 5.75, tail 3.10, forking of tail 0.70, 

 tarsus 0.90." (Emerson, 1906) Nest: A slight enlargement of an underground bur- 

 row, sometimes lined with a little dried grass. Eggs: i, dull to pure white, some- 

 times wreathed on the larger end with faint spots or other markings. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds on islands from southern Alaska to central California. 

 In Oregon: Breeds on Three Arch Rocks, Island Rock off Port Orford, the rocks near 

 Brookings, and possibly on other islands off coast. 



BEAL'S PETREL is present on the Oregon coast probably all through the 

 year in small numbers, but it is most abundant between May and August 

 (our earliest date, May 9; our latest, August 18). It is much the more 

 common of the two species on the coast and breeds abundantly on Three 

 Arch Rocks. The colony there has long been famous, owing largely to 

 the writings of Finley, Jewett, and others who have visited it. Finley's 

 (1902.) explorations of the bird rocks of the Oregon coast first made this 

 species and others definitely a part of the State fauna, and since this time 

 little has been added to our knowledge of the bird. In 1930, Braly found 

 it nesting on Island Rock off Port Orford, where, on June 15, he obtained 

 downy young birds and eggs. We have several times found wings and 

 feathers about excavated nest burrows on the inshore rocks near Port 

 Orford. Small predators, principally skunks, have access to these islands 

 at extreme low tides and quickly take advantage of that occasion to get 



