Page:Condor18(1).djvu/26

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Jan., 1916 SUPPLEMENT TO THE D!?rRIBUTION&L LIST 25 coincident with the notable movement of Blue-winged Teals, was a 'pllenomenal outpour- ing of Pintails. Some of the. flocks looked in at the Estero or Laguna Bianca, but most of them parallelled the coast offshore? moving east (and so south). The males were in full eclipse plumage at this time, and for several weeks thereafter were difficult to dis- tinguish save by bearing. Marils collaris. Ring-necked Duck. "Now rather uncommon.. '. fourteen records". From the unfailing regularity with which a small group of these birds occupies a certain corner on Laguna Bianca during late December, I have little doubt that we have been seeing practically the same birds every winter for the past five years. Seven birds con- stltute the nucleus of this flock. Only once have I seen it elsewhere, on Round Pond, 12 miles west of town, November 4, 1911. Dendrscygna bicolor. Fulvous Tree-Duck. "Interior valleys southerly".. Mention should, I think, be made of the occurrence of this bird on the sea-beaches during migra- tions: Santa Barbara, May 2, 1912 (9 birds Photographed on 'beach at Sandyland); Aug- ust 16, 1913; May 5, 1915. [xobrychus exiiis. Least Bittern. "Only four definite breeding records". On the 23rd of May, 1912, H. W. Carriger, Fred Truesdale and the writer, each took a nest with three eggs near Dos Palos. Again in 1914, May 30, three nests with eggs were found near Los Barlos by Mr. Rossiter M. Wheeler and William O. Dawson, n/5, n/l, and n/2. The bird undoubtedly breeds also at Santa Barbara where it is of regular occur- rence. I noted it on the 29th of May, 1915. Lobipes Iobatua. Northern Phalarope. Additional records are: Dos Palos, May 17, 1912 (12 birds photographed); Goose Lake, June 24, 1912 (5 birds in high plumage); Surprise Valley, July 12, 1915. Himantopus mexicanus. Black-necked Stilt. "Common summer visitant to interior localities". According to Mr. Bradford Torrey, who conducted me to the locality on the .21st of August, 1912, at least two, and possibly three, pairs of Stilts had bred in the Eatere that season. The Estero, I need scarcely remind Co?voa readers, is a brackish backwater lagoon (of a high degree of u.ncleanliness), which is flanked by warehouses, railroad yards, and the City gas-works of Santa Barbara. The birds to the number of ten or a dozen were there on the 21st and again on the 22rid of August, and I judged many of them to be young of the year. Gaiiinago delicata. Wilson Snipe. In a swamp near Lone Fine in Inyo County, we heard on the 17th of June, 1911, the "hooting" nuptial song of the Wilson Snipe; and the day following flushed a mother bird in charge of a chick, which had undoubtedly been hatched in/the near? vicinity. ?' Pisob'? macuia?a. Pectoral S?ndpiper. "Rare spring and fall migrant", with exact citations. ? Rare, b?t not so rare, say rarish. Recent records are: Santa Barbara, Aug- ust 20, 1914; Elkho?-n (Monterey County), October 11, 1913 (6 birds photographed); La Patera (8 miles west of Santa Barbara), August 25, 1915. Pisobia bairdi. Baird Sandpiper. "Rare fall migrant". The species is of infalli- ble occurrence along the Santa Barbara coast in autumn, where it is at least as certaln? if not as abundant, as the Red-backed Sandpiper. Fall appearances range from July 25 (1914) to September 4 (1911). I suspect that its appearances in spring are quite as reg- ular, although, naturally, more condensed. My meager records (due merely to lack of attention) are April 27, 1912, May 2, 1913, May 5 and 7, 1915. Peiidna a10ina sakhaiina. Red-backed Sandpiper. The Salton Sea appears to be an unrecorded wintering station. Mr. Brooks and I found them in company with Western (Ereunetes mauri) anff Least (P. minutilla) Sandpipers, near Mecca in January (Jan. 30, 1913). Totanus raelanoleucus. Greater Yellow-legs. "Many records . . . almost span the summer". Then June 30, 1912, Eagleville, Modoc County, comes pretty n?arly t'o being the keystone of the arch; but Grinnell is quite right in saying that these midsummer records have no breeding significance. Oxyechua vocifer?s voclferus. Killdeer. "Abundant residen? of suitable localities throughout the State". True; but the term 'resident', unqualified, conceals the fact that the population (at least of southern California) is heavily augmented in winter, presumably by influx of extra-territorial migrants. There are forty times as many Kill- deers in winter as in summer along the Santa Barbara coast. Aegialitis nivosa. Snowy Plover. "Occurs sparingly in the interior", with citation,