[138] BIRDS OF ORE.GOJSr 



Plovers, Turnstones, and Surf-birds: Family 

 Charadriidae 



Western Snowy Plover: 



Charadrius nivosus nivosus (Cassin) 



DESCRIPTION. "Bill longer than middle toe without claw, slender, and entirely 

 black. Chest band reduced to a spot at each side of breast. Adults in summer: crown 

 and back pale buffy gray; face and under parts white; wide bar across front of crown, 

 ear patch, and spot at side of chest black. Adults in winter: black replaced by dusky 

 gray. Young: similar to winter adults, but with feathers of back tipped with white." 

 (Bailey) Downy young: "The downy young snowy plover is quite unlike the young 

 piping plover. The entire upper parts are pale buff, 'cream buff' to 'cartridge buff' 

 mixed with grayish white. The crown, back, rump, wings and thighs are dis- 

 tinctly and quite evenly spotted with black. The under parts are pure white." 

 (Bent) (See Plate 38, /4.) Si%e: "Length 6.15-7.00, wing 4.10-4.30, bill about 

 .60, tarsus .90-1.05." (Bailey) Nest: A hollow in the sand, lined with bits of shell 

 and pebbles. Eggs: Sometimes z, usually 3, olive buff, marked more or less evenly 

 but not heavily with black and gray. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from Washington, northern California, and northern 

 Utah south to Lower California. Winters from Oregon south along coast to Mexico. 

 In Oregon: Permanent resident of the coast and rare summer resident of Harney 

 Valley. 



THE ONLY REFERENCE in Oregon literature (except for our own records) 

 to the Western Snowy Plover, the pale little ghost of the sand dunes, is 

 that by Woodcock (1901), who reported it from the coast on Anthony's 

 statement. As a matter of fact, it is a permanent resident of such spits 

 as those at Bayocean, Netarts, Siletz, and Pistol River, where its lacy 

 tracks are in evidence everywhere among the thick evergreen patches of 

 the sand verbena (Abronia) that grow above high-tide line in the dry 

 sand dunes that it frequents. It is a silent little bird, running ahead of 

 the observer on swift feet, only to blend almost indistinguishably into 

 the sand the moment motion stops. Currier took sets of eggs in Tillamook 

 County on July 13 and 14, 192.1, and newly feathered young can occa- 

 sionally be seen on sand areas there and elsewhere. 



In winter the Snowy Plovers gather into small flocks of a dozen or less 

 that frequent the dry dunes during stormy weather but often venture out 

 on the wet beaches to feed to and fro with the movement of the surf. 

 Though not as expert as Sanderlings in such maneuvers, they can be seen 

 engaged in them at almost any tide. We have numerous winter specimens 

 and records for the coast, particularly in Tillamook and Lincoln Counties, 

 where this bird seems most common. 



It is a rare species inland. Lewis saw three on Silver Lake, Harney 

 County, on July 4, 1912., and Cantwell reported it from Malheur in 1916, 

 from April 2.0 to May i. Our only inland records are from Harney Lake, 



