Nov.,1914 I?Pl?I?.CTS OB IRRIGATION ON BIP,.D LIBI? IN WASHINGTON 251 Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse. Pedioecetes pha?ianellus columbianus. Formerly common but not seen recently. Sage Grouse. Centrocercus uropkasianus. Formerly ? common but how breeding only in the Rattlesnake Mountains. Western Mourning Dove. Zenaidura macroura mar#inella. Rarely seen in the sage brush, probably nesting there. Short-eared Owl Asio flammeus. Rarely seen in the sage brush. Burrowing Owl. $peotyto cunicularia hypo#aea. Common, nesting along the ravines. I believe they will average from four to ten pairs to the square mile. Say Phoebe. Sayor?vis sayus. Rarely seen in the brush Dusky Horned Lark. Otocoris alpestris merrilli. The most abundant brush species, probably averaging from twenty to forty pairs to the square mile. Western Meadowlark. Sturnella neglecta. The second most abundant species, with perhaps ten or more pairs to the square mile. Western Vesper Sparrow. Pooecetes gramineus confinis. This was not common in the sage area near my ranch, but was numerous east of Sunnyside, where I had little opportunity of observing it. The same applies to the next species. Brewer Sparrow. Spizella breweri. White-rumped Shrike. Lanius ludovicianus excubitorides Occasional Sage Thrasher. Oreoscoptes montanus. Probably five pairs to the square mile. This desert area was bounded on the south by the Yakima River, two hun- dred feet wide normally, but during spring floods spreading over the bottoms to a width of a half mile. The river, in its thickets of roses, elders and sumacs, above which rose the alders and cottonwoods, supported a bird fauna entirely different from that of the desert, and the nucleus from which sprang later the abundant bird life of the irrigated land. The following is a list of the species which nest either on the river banks, in the thickets and trees, or about the ponds left in the river bottoms by retreating high waters. American Black Tern. Hydrochelidon nigra surinamensis. Cinnamon Teal. Querquedula cyanoptera. Shovellet. Spatula clypeata. Great Blue Heron. Ardea herodias. Coot. Fulica americana. Spotted Sandpiper. Actitis macularius. Killdeer. Oxyechus vocff erus. Western Mourning Dove. Ze.?aidura macroura marginella. Marsh Hawk. Circus hudsonius. Sharp-shinned Hawk. Accipiter velox. Western Red-tail Buteo borealis calurus. Sparrow Hawk. Falco sparverius phaloena. Belted Kingfisher. Ceryle alcyon. Lewis Woodpecker. Asyndesmus lewisi. Red-shafted Flicker. Colapres cafer collaris. Western Nighthawk. ChordMles virginianus henryi. Black-thinned Hummingbird. Archilochus alexandr.?. ? Rufous Hummingbird. Selazphorus rufus. Eastern Kingbird. Tyrannus tyrannus.
