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Volvime XIV Jan-uary-February, 1912 Number 1 
THE SHORE BIRDS OF SANTA BARBARA 
By J. HOOPER BOWLES and ALFRED B. HOWELL 
WITH THRKE PHOTOS BY J. H. BOWLES 
S ANTA BARBARA, although apparently presenting conditions no more 
favorable for a heavy migration of shore birds than most other parts of the 
southern California coast, seems to be a preferred stopping place for the 
members of this order. 
Mr. Bowles has made numerous observations among the Limicolae of this 
region since November, 1909, and work was carried on by both authors wdth the 
waders exclusively from August 8 until September 18 of the present year. No 
observations are recorded after December 1, 1911. 
Field work was done at a shallow brackish slough near the beach at Goleta, a 
point ten miles west of Santa Barbara, at a large, but very shallow fresh-water 
marsh within the city limits, herein designated as “the flats”, and at an extensive 
tide marsh with miles of tide creeks near Carpenteria, some eight miles east of 
town. The intermediate beaches were thoroughly explored. There were no 
rocky stretches along the shore, but occasionally outcropping boulders, or reefs, 
that were for the most part covered with tar. This substance floats up from a few 
miles down the coast and is a source of annoyance to all the water birds, all too 
frequently adhering to their feathers and causing a lingering death. 
It is an interesting and probably a well-known fact that the birds of this group 
are much more suspicious of danger threatening from above than of anything 
approaching on their own level. The Black-bellied Plover, for example, will take 
instant flight if there is the slightest movement of the tall grass or bushes at the 
top of a cliff overlooking their feeding grounds. It may also be of value to state 
that they pay far less attention to a movement in the water than to one on shore, 
as we found it an easy matter to approach within a short distance of the most wary 
by wading towards them in the tide creeks, submerged to our shoulders. 
Mr. Bowles has made a careful examination of the contents of the stomachs of 
all specimens taken, and the number of injurious insects, beetles in particular, 
destroyed by this order of birds is surprising. Beetles, squash-bugs, etc., were 
