Page:Condor18(2).djvu/36

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74 TH/? CONDOR Vol. XVIll but to the establishment of its various lines of eoSperative effort, and to the perfecting of its building plans. If the Museum of Comparative O51ogy appears thus to be in large measure founded on faith, it is not ashamed of such appearance. Works adequate to its present needs have not been lacking locally, and we have received many pleasant assurances of outside help. We believe that we are in a pos/tion to fully recipro- cate the confidence already reposed in us, and to put such contributions of nests and eggs as may be entrusted to us by the generosity of outside givers to the highest human service. Santa Barbara, California, 'February 15, 1916. NOTES ON SOME LAND BIRDS OF TILLAMOOK COUNTY, OREGON By STANLEY G. JEWETT ILLAMOOK COUNTY, on the northwest coast of Oregon, is a land of high, 'heavily timbered mountains, deep canyons, and level, grassy meadows. There are three important bays in the county, Nehalem, Tillamook, and Ne- tarts, a?d seven fair sized rivers, five of which flow into Tillamook Bay, one into Nehalem Bay, and one, the Nestucca, into a small bay of the same name. Besides these streams there are innumerable small creeks flowing directly into the ocean. Most of the county is clothed in its primeval forests of Douglas spruce. Along the immediate coast line just above the tide lands, considerable Sitka spruce is found. Most of the banks of the streams through the agricultural areas are lined with willows, alders and heavy underbrush. The fruit of such species of com- mon native trees and shrubs as the blue elderberry, chittam (Rhamnus) and three species of huckleberry, form an important item in the birds' food supply during the late summer and early winter months. The heavy growth of lodge- pole pine (Pinus contorta) growing on the sand dunes along the beach is a great attraction to the crossbills. Most of the open country is devoted to dairying, and the broad pastures furnish good foraging for Meadowlarks, Brewer Blackbirds and Robins. Du?ing the past three years, the Oregon Fish and Game Commission under the direction of William L. Finley, State Game Warden, has carried on system- atic investigation of the bird and animal life throughout various parts of the state. The work has been carried on in Tillamook County by the writer, assisted at times by O. J. Murie, now of the Carnegie Museum staff, and by ]?iorton E. Peck, of Salem. Alfred Shelton, of the University of Oregon, has done some work at Netarts Bay. For two reasons considerable field work has been done in Tillamook County during parts of every month in the year. First, because this part of the state presents ideal conditions for a study of the wild life in our humid coast belt, and second, because the bays and the diversified coast line make ideal collecting grounds for waterfowl. For notes on the water birds found at Netarts, Tillamook County, Oregon, see CONDOR, XV?, 1914, pp. 107-115. Oreortyx 'picta picta. Mountain Quail. One of these quail was heard calling from a thicket of dwarf vine near the beach at Netarts, on April 14, 1914. They are reported as common on the hills along the east side of Tillamook Valley. They are not uncom- mon along the Nehalem River near Batterson Station.