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 SepL, 1919 BIRD NOTES FROM OREGON AND CALIFORNIA 197 Some of the dewhies on the muskrat houses were killed by the hall July 9. The nest built by the terns, themselves, were better protected. being more or less covered by sheltering tnles, and no damage was noted in these localities. Hydrochelidon ni9ra surinamensis. Black Tern. Common breeding bird at Mal- heur but much le,s plentiful than the last. Small colonies were found in tnles near edge of open water in everal different localities. They began laying about June 5; first young were een July 8, and ome of the young were flying by July 20. The nests were fairly compactly built of dead rushes and were situated on broken-down rules 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. Eight or ten pairs of Black Terns were observed nesting in a rule patch in a hay field several miles from the lake, June 26. Phalacrocorax auritns (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 Fig. 41. You-G WHITE PELICAIS AT MALHEUR LAKE, OREGON, JUNE 18, 1918. fresh spring plumage, were examined carefully at close range with glasrs 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 bi?d may prove referable to the eastern form, P.a. auritus. At Clear Lake on April 10 about one hundred pairs of comerants were beginning to nest on one of the small islands. At this date many nests were about completed and a few contained one or two eggs each, no full clutches being noted. At Malheur Lake about one hundred pair of birds were found nesting on broken- down tnles near the northeast end of the lake June 18. on which date most of the nests contained young o{ 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. iaelecanus rythrorhynchos. 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,