PLOVERS, TURNSTONES, AND SURF-BIRDS : Family Cbaradriidac [2.39] 



where on June 12., 192.2., Jewett saw some birds on the lake bed and where 

 on May 2.6, 192.3, he watched a pair for some time. One bird was building 

 a nest. Several sand hollows had been partially scooped out, and the 

 process of scooping was still going on at the time he found the birds. 



Semipalmated Plover: 



Charadrius semipalmatus Bonaparte 



DESCRIPTION. "Size small; distinct basal webs between front toes; bill very small 

 and short, less than middle toe without claw, the basal half yellow in adults. 

 Adults in summer: throat encircled by a black collar, bordered above on back of neck 

 with a white band; face black, with a white bar across forehead; upper parts brown- 

 ish gray, under parts white. Adults in winter: black of summer plumage replaced by 

 dirk gray. Young: like winter adults, but with feathers of upper parts edged with 

 buffy. Length: 6.50-7.50, wing 4.65-5.00, bill .48-. 55, tarsus .95-1.05." (Bailey) 

 Nest: A slight depression, sometimes lined with dry vegetation. Eggs: 3 or 4, buff 

 with bold markings of dark brown or black. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from coast of Bering Sea to Baffin Island and Green- 

 land, south to the Yukon, British Columbia, James Bay, New Brunswick, and Nova 

 Scotia. Winters from central California, Louisiana, and South Carolina southward 

 to southern Argentina. In Oregon: Regular migrant along coast in both spring and 

 fall. Casual inland. 



LITTLE ATTENTION has been paid to shore birds in Oregon, and conse- 

 quently little is on record regarding the Semipalmated Plover. Woodcock 

 (1902.) recorded it from Yaquina Bay, and Nichols (1909) saw it on the 

 coast, July 2.6, 1908. We have found it to be a regular but by no means 

 common migrant, most abundant in May and August, occurring usually 

 as single birds frequenting the sand beach above the high-tide line. The 

 earliest spring date is March 10, in Lincoln County (Bretherton, ms. 

 reports, Biological Survey); and the latest, May 2.0, in Tillamook County. 

 In the fall we have found it on the coast from July xi to August 31 (both 

 Lincoln County). We have no inland records, but Laing (ms. notes, 

 Biological Survey) reported a few seen near Portland on August Z4 and 

 2-9, 



Killdeer: 



Oxyechus vociferus vociferus (Linnaeus) 



DESCRIPTION. "Adults: Chest crossed by two black bands, the upper encircling the 

 neck; forehead, collar, and under parts white; front of crown black; rump and sides 

 of tail bright ochraceous yellow; rest of upper parts dull olive brown. Young: 

 similar to adults but duller, with much rusty on back." (Bailey) Downy young: 

 "The most distinctive feature of the downy young killdeer is the long, downy tail, 

 black above and elsewhere barred with 'pinkish buff' and black with long, hair-like, 

 buffy down below protruding beyond the rest of the tail; the forehead, chin, throat, 

 a ring around the neck and the under parts are pure white, except for a tinge of 

 pinkish buff in the center of the forehead; a broad, black stripe above the forehead 

 extends around the crown to the occiput; a black stripe extends from the lores, below 



