Sept, 1919 BIRD NOTES FROM OREGON AND CALIFORNIA 197 
Some of the downies on the muskrat houses were killed by the hail July 9. The nests 
built by the terns, themselves, were better protected, being more or less covered by 
sheltering tules, and no damage was noted in these localities. 
Hydrochelidon nigra surinamensis. Black Tern. Common breeding bird at Mal- 
heur but much less plentiful than the last. Small colonies were found in tules near 
edge of open water in several different localities. They began laying about June 5; first 
young were seen July 8, and some of the young were flying by July 20. The nests were 
fairly compactly built of dead rushes and were situated on broken-down tules floating on 
the water. The eggs were two or three in number and varied greatly in color and 
markings. The adult birds began to take on the fall plumage about the middle of July, 
and the species was quite scarce on the lake the latter part of August, many apparently 
having left the locality by this time. Hight or ten pairs of Black Terns were observed 
nesting in a tule patch in a hay field several miles from the lake, June 26. 
Phalacrocorax auritus (subsp.?). Cormorant. Though the cormorants of both Clear 
and Malheur lakes have been previously referred frequently to P. a. albociliatus, the 
Farallon Cormorant, I am very doubtful as to the correctness of this identification, par- 
ticularly as regards the bird of the latter locality. A great many of these birds, while in 
— 41. YOUNG WHITE PELICANS AT MALHEUR LAKE, OREGON, JUNE 18, a 
fresh spring plumage, were examined carefully at close range with glasses and in no in- 
stance was I able to detect any trace of the white plumes supposed to be characteristic 
of albociliatus. I am inclined to believe, therefore, that this bird may prove referable to 
the eastern form, P. a. auritus. 
At Clear Lake on April 10 about one hundred pairs of comorants were beginning to 
nest on one of the small islands. At this date mary nests were about completed and a 
few contained one or two eggs each, no full clutches being noted. 
At Malheur Lake about one hundred pairs of birds were found nesting on broken- 
down tules near the northeast end of the lake June 18, on which date most of the nests 
contained young of different ages—some being nearly as large as the adults (fig. 40)— 
though two or three nests still held eggs. Most of these nests had been built up a foot 
or two from their foundations and had apparently been used for several years. 
Pelecanus erythrorhynchos. White Pelican. From four hundred to five hundred 
pairs noted on islands at Clear Lake April 10. At this date about one hundred and fifty 
nests were noted, many of which contained one or two eggs each. 
At Malheur Lake about four hundred pairs were nesting on broken-down tules in 
company with cormorants and blue herons. At the time of the first visit to this colony, 
