[142.] BIRDS OF OREGON 



fall, usually in November. It winters as far north as weather permits. It 

 has been an abundant breeding species in the great alkaline marshes of 

 southeastern Oregon and is still a regular nesting species in the remnants 

 of those marshes. 



It builds its nest beneath some small shrub or grassy tuft and deposits 

 its 6 to 10 eggs. The female often sits exceedingly close, allowing an 

 intruder to all but step on her before taking alarm. Typical nesting data 

 are as follows: "Sycan Marsh, June 12., 192.7, nest with seven eggs under 

 a sage brush 300 yards from water" (Jewett); "Warner Lakes, May 2.1, 

 1932., nest with three eggs" (Jewett); "May 14, 1919, Round Lake, 

 Klamath County, nest with six eggs" (Gabrielson); "June 16, 192.6, 

 several broods of young seen on Island Ranch, Harney County" (Gabriel- 

 son); "June 13, 192.6, parents and young near Midland, Klamath County" 

 (Gabrielson). 



As soon as the young are able to fly, there is a marked movement 

 among these ducks, and great bands appear on the high mountain lakes 

 in early August (Minam Lake, Wallowa County, August 2.0, 19x3 ; Kinney 

 Lake, Wallowa County, August 2.1, 1930; and Diamond Lake, Douglas 

 County, several August dates, Gabrielson). This dispersion of local ducks 

 apparently coincides with or slightly precedes the first flight of northern 

 birds, which is composed largely of this species. At least by mid-August, 

 Pintails have become common birds, not only in the great breeding 

 marshes and the mountain lakes, but on the bays and inlets on the coast. 



The American Pintail feeds by tipping up, and it is an amusing spectacle 

 to watch a group of them standing on their heads in shallow water, with 

 the sharp tails pointing straight toward the zenith as they work the 

 bottoms with their bills, searching out the seeds and tubers of the aquatic 

 plants that furnish the bulk of their food. 



A series of 14 stomachs collected in September, October, November, 

 and December, at Klamath Falls, were filled mainly with seeds of Hippuris 

 vulgaris, Myriophyllum, Polygpnum amphibium and P. aviculare, Scirpus ameri- 

 canus , Potanwgeton sp., Eleocharis sp., Ranunculus sp., Cicuta sp., Portulaca, 

 Menyanthes trifoliata, Amaranthus sp., Zannichellia palustris, Ruppia mari- 

 tima, Naias flexilis, and vegetative parts of the duckweed (Lemna), algae, 

 Chara and Potamogeton. The animal matter consisted of fragments of 

 various mollusks, crustaceans, beetles, and a variety of water insects, 

 chiefly important as showing that such food is entirely acceptable. Only 

 one stomach contained more than fragments of animal matter. It was 

 filled with small mollusks, including 2.60 Pisidium occidental, 19 Pompholyx 

 effusa, 700 Planorbis parvus, 2. Fluminicola Nuffaliana, and fragments of 

 Valvata vinus. In addition to this animal food, a few fragments of seeds 

 of several plants had been taken, surely a full meal. 



From west of the Cascades, one stomach from Sauvies Island and five 

 from Netarts Bay were examined and found to be entirely or largely filled 



