[ 2.70 ] BIRDSOFOREGON 



tinged with dull pinkish in breeding plumage. Adult female: like male, but black 

 duller, or slaty. Young: similar to adult female, but feathers of back bordered with 

 buffy, and blackish of head and neck mottled with buffy." (Bailey) Downy young: 

 "Upper parts light buffy grayish mottled with dusky, the back and rump with 

 several large blotches of black; head, neck, and under parts buffy whitish or brown- 

 ish white, the crown, occiput, and hindneck grayish, the crown with a mesial 

 streak of black, the occiput with several irregular spots of the same." (Ridgway 

 1919.) S^e: "Length 13.50-15.50, wing 8.50-9.00, bill 1.50, tarsus 4." (Bailey) 

 Nest: A hollow, lined with bits of vegetation. Eggs: Usually 4, occasionally 3 to 7, 

 dull yellow to buff, irregularly spotted with small blotches of dark brown or black 

 (Plate 43, /Q. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Nests north to Oregon, Utah, Colorado, Louisiana, and 

 Florida and southward into South America. Winters in Central and South America. 

 In Oregon: Summer resident of alkali ponds of Klamath, Harney, and Lake Counties. 

 Arrives in May and leaves for south in August. 



THE BLACK-NECKED STILT, an odd black and white bird with elongated 

 pink legs (Plate 43, B), is a summer resident and one of the striking 

 species of the alkaline lake country. It reaches its northernmost breeding 

 grounds in Oregon, where nesting colonies are known at present from 

 Klamath (several ponds near Midland), Lake (Warner Lakes and Che- 

 waucan Marsh), and Harney (Malheur Lake) Counties. Newberry (1857) 

 first recorded the species from the State, and Bendire (1877) found it 

 breeding at Malheur Lake. Mearns (1879) listed it at Fort Klamath, and 

 subsequent observers have found it in these two counties and in Lake 

 County also. The earliest date of arrival is April 19 (Klamath County); 

 latest fall date, August 31 (Lake County), the birds leaving for the south 

 while the weather is still warm in the great interior plateau. The species 

 is not common in Oregon, the numbers being limited to a few pairs at 

 each of the above-mentioned localities. It has not been found even as a 

 straggler outside the breeding area. 



The flimsy nests (Plate 43, A), built in much the same situations as 

 those selected by the Avocets, are occasionally flooded by rising waters. 

 At such times, the birds have been known to build them up by thrusting 

 bits of sticks and debris under the eggs until they are occasionally raised 

 as much as 8 inches above the ground level. The eggs are usually laid 

 during the last half of May (May 2.1 to June 2.1). 



In walking, the Black-necked Stilts raise the feet with a very exagger- 

 ated knee action, which sometimes makes them appear clumsy and awk- 

 ward in handling their pipestem legs, but in reality they are very com- 

 petent waders in the slime and muddy waters of their chosen home. Their 

 flight is well sustained but not particularly swift, the long legs projecting 

 behind giving the birds an exceedingly slender appearance. During their 

 brief stay in Oregon, the stilts are exceedingly noisy and aggressive, 

 scolding with harsh, shrill clatter at any one who invades their haunts. 



