[2.74] BIRDS OF OREGON 



year Gabrielson observed a similar occurrence on the Tillamook beaches 

 on October 18 and 19. Most of the birds soon disappeared, but a few 

 remained on the beaches on a second visit on November 2.2.. During the 

 last week of October 1934, a heavy storm killed hundreds of these birds 

 along the beaches and drove thousands more inland, some into the Wil- 

 lamette Valley, to be killed by cars or various other agencies. It was 

 one of the most spectacular cases of bird destruction ever to come to our 

 attention. 



On offshore trips taken during the late summer and fall by one or both 

 of the writers at irregular intervals during the past few years, these 

 phalaropes were the most abundant small bird encountered; and every 

 offshore trip at that season revealed their presence in numbers. On July 

 2.0, 1933, Gabrielson found them common off Depoe Bay. Their breasts 

 were still curiously speckled and blotched with the remaining red of the 

 summer plumage. On August 30 and 31, 192.9, the two writers and Braly 

 saw great numbers scattered over the ocean out 12. to 15 miles, and a few 

 of those collected showed an occasional red feather. At that time the 

 phalaropes were scattered in small flocks feeding on the surface and 

 frequently indulging in the familiar whirling, treading performance. 

 They seemed particularly partial to the "tide rips" (so called by local 

 fisherman) that are produced by a combination of wind, surface current, 

 and tidal movements. These rips are usually an irregular broken line 

 roughly paralleling the shore and marked by masses of floating kelp, 

 logs, and drift thrown overboard from passing steamers. They may be 

 close to shore or many miles at sea, depending on the variations of wind 

 and water movements. The phalaropes, gulls, and shearwaters, in par- 

 ticular, seem to find them a prolific source of food supply, and when a 

 rip forms it is usually followed by a noticeable concentration of such 

 birds. We have not had an opportunity to get offshore so regularly in 

 the spring, and therefore our spring records are much more scanty, de- 

 pending on the shore stragglers that have appeared between March 2.7 

 and May n. 



Few writers have had much to say regarding this little bird as an 

 Oregon species. Townsend (1839) credited it to Oregon, and Woodcock 

 (1901) said it was found at Yaquina Bay. Aside from these two refer- 

 ences we have had to rely entirely on our own notes for the discussion 

 of its status. 



Wilson's Phalarope: 



Steganopus tricolor Vieillot 



DESCRIPTION. "Bill slender, longer than head- toes with straight-edged marginal 

 membranes; wing without white bar; female larger and handsomer than male. 

 Male in breeding plumage: crown and upper parts dusky, touched with brown; sides 



