DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS: Family Anatidae [167] 



under rocks or drift wood. Eggs: 5 to 10, varying from "light buff" or "cream 

 color" to pale tints of same color. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from Alaska, British Columbia, and Mackenzie 

 southward in mountains to Colorado and central California. Winters on coast from 

 Pribilof Islands to central California. In Oregon: Permanent resident breeding along 

 swift mountain streams of Wallowas and Cascades. Winters on coast. 



THE WESTERN HARLEQUIN DUCK (Plate 2.5) was first reported from what 

 is now Oregon territory by Townsend (1839). Woodcock (1901) listed it 

 on the basis of Bretherton's statement of "two or three pairs seen on the 

 ocean in March of each year," the only other reference to it in Oregon 

 ornithological literature aside from notes on the species in two short 

 Condor articles by Jewett (192.5, 19310). We have found it to be a regular 

 and fairly common resident of the State that winters regularly on the 

 coast from Curry to Tillamook County from August to May (earliest 

 date, August 8; latest, May 18; both Tillamook County). We have speci- 

 mens and records from Curry, Lane, Lincoln, and Tillamook Counties 

 and feel sure it will be found in other coast counties whenever adequate 

 field work is done. 



We have three definite breeding records in Oregon, all of them made by 

 Jewett. An adult female and two downy young were taken from the 

 swift waters of the Wallowa River near Frazier Lake, July 2.1, 192.5, and 

 on July 2.8, 192.9, a female and six downy young (one collected) were seen 

 in the Imnaha River near the spot where Cliff River empties into it. Both 

 of these localities are high in the Wallowa Mountains. The third record 

 was made in the Cascades on Zigzag River in the Mount Hood National 

 Forest where, on May 31, 1931, Jewett collected a set of six eggs, the first 

 ever taken within the State and one of the few sets known. These eggs 

 are now in the Braly collection. Jewett's notes on that occasion were as 

 follows : 



May 30-31, 1931. Arrah Wauna, Wemme P. O., a female seen in front of the Fred Meyer 

 cottage, feeding among the rocks in the swift waters of the Salmon River between nine and 

 ten in the morning of May 30 and again on May 31. A female seen near Mossy Rocks cottage, 

 a few miles above Rhododendron postoffice, and just out of Tollgate on Zig Zag River. The 

 small son (Donald) of Herbert Cook showed me a nest containing six eggs which he had 

 found the day before (May 30). The nest was located in debris on an overturned stump of 

 Oregon alder, washed out in mid-stream during a recent flood. The nest was composed of 

 dry rootlets well rimmed with dark down from the parent's breast. Donald told me that he 

 had caught the female on the nest and handled her. 



Undoubtedly this beautiful little inhabitant of the mountain streams nests 

 through the Cascades in suitable localities and more records will be pro- 

 cured as the number of bird students increases. 



While on the coast, Western Harlequin Ducks frequent the rocky 

 promontories and capes, where they are often found resting on the rocks 

 at high tide and feeding about the exposed rocks at low tide (Plate 2.5). 



