372 Distribution of Land Birds. [ZOE 
All of the species thus far considered have apparently reached us 
by getting out of their regular north and south routes of migration, 
but there are some species which have been taken in the State which 
are normally restricted to a far more southern habitat. The most 
remarkable occurrence of this sort is that of Piranga rubriceps, which 
Mr. Walter E. Bryant has recorded from Dos Pueblos, Santa Bar- 
bara County.* As this is a strictly South American species, it is 
certainly very remarkable that it should have wandered so far from 
its native home. Mr, Wm. Price has recorded another South 
American species from Riverside,} which, however, normally reaches. 
~a much higher latitude that the preceding — Vireo flavoviridis. One 
specimen of the cape robin ( Meruda confinis) was taken at Haywards 
_ on January 27, 1883, a considerable distance from its natural habi- 
tat in Lower California. 
The remarks made with reference to Dryobates pubescens would 
perhaps apply equally to the specimen of Spinus psaltria arizone, 
taken by Mr. Emerson at Haywards, January 10, 1883, and pro- 
nounced by Mr. Ridgway as typical of the Arizona variety, while 
the same is the case with a specimen of the savanna sparrow (Am- 
modramus sandwichensis savanna), which Mr. Emerson collected 
in the Volcan Mountains, San Diego County, March 9, 1884, and 
also identified by Mr. Ridgway. The following is, I believe, a com- 
plete list of the accidental visitants to California so far as recorded. 
_Buteo abbreviatus.—One shot thirty miles north of San Diego. 
(Cooper, Geol. Surv. of Cal. Ornith., I, p. 480.) 
Megascops asio kennicottit. Sodie of 1883, at Beird. (Town- 
send, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1887, P- 203. ) 
Megascops flammeolus.—“‘A specimen of this southern owl was 
taken at Fort Crook in August, 1860, by Captain John Feilner—the 
first instance of its capture in the United States.’ (Townsend, 
Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1887, p. 204. 
Trochilus rubromitratus—San Francisco. (Bryant, Forest and 
Stream. ) 
Dryobates pubescens. 
Colaptes auratus.—A few typical specimens have been taken in 
California, but the whole question of the flickers is so perplexing 
and so little understood that SGA need here be said onit. It is. 
= = kak. fae: ioe p. = t Auk, V, p. 210. 
