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Limicoline Laggards at Santa Barbara

W. Leon Dawson

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The old declaration, the exception Proves the rule, will not, of course, bear the test of a rigid logic; but unseasonable records have a fascination for most of us quite out of proportion to their real value. The following records, taken chiefly by Commander and Mrs. H. E. Parmenter at Santa Barbara this past June, prove no rules, but they do serve to establish a presumption that laggards of almost any species of shorebirds may be found stumbling along in the wake of the main host. Non-breeding birds do not refuse altogether to obey the migration impulse, but they may yield only a partial obedience to its behests, and they exhibit every degree of failure in the realization of the high goal. Only two of the species given below, the Sanderling and the Black-bellied Plover, rest solely on my own observation. For the rest we are indebted to Mr. and Mrs. Parmenter, both for painstaking research and for permission to publish.

Recurvirostra americana. Avocet. One at La Patera, June 1, 1915.

Himantopus mexicanus. Black-necked Stilt. One at the Estero, Santa Barbara, June 12.

Ereunetes mauri. Western Sandpiper. One at La Patera, June 1; one at Sandyland, June 9.

Calidris leucophaea. Sanderling. Twelve at Sandyland, June 5.

Limosa fedoa. Marbled Godwit. Twoat Sandyland, June 4; five on June 9.

Totanus melanoleucus. Greater Yellowlegs. One at Estero, S. B., June 7.

Catoptrophorus semipalmatus inornutus. Western Willet. One at La Patera, June 1; one at Sandyland. June 9; one, June 25.

Numenius americanus. Long-billed Curlew. Six at Sandyland, June 4.

Numenius hudsonicus. Jack Curlew. Thirty at Sandyland, June 4; thirteen on June 9; eleven, June 25; one at Goleta, June 30.

Squatarola squatarola. Black-bellied Plover. mouth of Rome Creek, June 5. Two birds in winter plumage at the mouth of Romero Creek June 4

Oxyechus vociferus voctferus. Killdeer. Sparingly resident.

Aegialitis nivosa. Snowy Plover. Resident at La Patera and Sandyland.

Aphriza virgata. Surf-bird. Two at mouth of Romero Creek, June 4.

Arenaria melanocephala. Black Turnstone. One at Romero, June 5.

Santa Barbara, California, July 30, 1915

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