[2.64] BIRDSOFOREGON 



THE LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER is a regular but not abundant migrant in 

 Oregon, though huge flocks will appear for a day or two in some locali- 

 ties during migrations. Its flight is swift and direct, and it is master of 

 the intricate flock evolutions extensively practiced by many of its rela- 

 tives. Townsend (1839) first recorded it from Oregon, and since his time 

 Newberry (1857), Bendire (1877), Mearns (1879), Johnson (1880), and 

 Willett (1919) have recorded it as either a spring or fall migrant, all of 

 these referring to eastern Oregon except Johnson who found it in the 

 Willamette Valley. For some unknown reason neither Woodcock (1902.) 

 nor any of his western Oregon correspondents seem to have noted this 

 species; at least Woodcock failed to mention it. 



In our own experience it is now regularly found on the coast and in 

 the interior. The coastal birds are found usually in small compact flocks 

 about the bays. In eastern Oregon the birds are often found in flocks of 

 several hundred that stay about the marshes for several days or weeks, 

 particularly on their movement southward. We have noted it in Clatsop, 

 Tillamook, and Lincoln Counties on the coast and Harney, Klamath, and 

 Crook Counties in the eastern part of the State. Our earliest spring date 

 is April zcj (Clatsop County); our latest, May 15 (Harney County). In 

 the fall our records range from July 2.0 (Lincoln County) to September 2.3 

 (Crook County). 



Most of the specimens taken in Oregon are curiously speckled inter- 

 mediates between the bright cinnamon of the summer and the gray and 

 white of the winter dress. We have three taken by Gabrielson from a 

 flock in Crook County, September 2.3, however, that are in complete 

 winter plumage and two taken by him at Newport on May 3 that are in 

 almost full nuptial dress. 



Western Sandpiper: 



Ereunetes mauri Cabanis 



DESCRIPTION. "Adults in summer: Ear coverts and upper parts bright chestnut, 

 mottled with black and buffy gray; breast thickly spotted. Adults in winter: upper 

 parts dull gray, obscurely streaked with dusky; under parts white, with a few scat- 

 tered triangular spots of dusky on breast and sides. Young: back spotted with black 

 and scalloped with dark chestnut and white; chest tinged with pinkish buff; rest of 

 under parts white. Male: wing 3.60-3.75, bill .85-. 95, tarsus .85-. 90. Female: 

 wing 3.70-3.90, bill 1.00-1.15, tarsus .90-. 95." (Bailey) Nest: A depression in the 

 ground, scantily lined with grass, leaves of berry-bearing vines and dwarf birch, and 

 reindeer moss stems. Eggs: 4, rarely 5, creamy ground color, heavily marked with 

 brown. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds only in Alaska from Hooper Bay north and east to 

 Point Barrow and Camden Bay. Winters from Washington and Gulf coast south- 

 ward into South America. In Oregon: Abundant spring and fall migrant. 



THE WESTERN SANDPIPER is by far the most abundant shore bird in Ore- 

 gon, often outnumbering all other species combined. It reaches its maxi- 



