BKEWSTEK: BIKUS OF THE CAPE REGIOX, LOWER CALIFOKNIA. IGl 



WAY, Hist. N. Amer. Birds, II. 1874, 87, part, pi. 29, fig. 10 (breeding at Cape 



St. Lucas ; eric). Salvin and Godma.v. Biol. Centr.-Amer., Aves, I. IBbG, 



o61, o6'2, part (breeding at Cape St. Lucas, May 5). 

 Passerina versicolor (not i>fjiza versicolor Bonapakte) Belding, Proc. U. S. Xat. 



Mus., V. 1883, 546 (San Jose del Cabo). 

 P.[asseri)i(i] versicolor pulchra Ridgway, Man. N. Amer. Birds, 1887, 448 (orig. 



descr. ; type from Miraflores). 

 Passerina versicolor pulchra Bryant, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., 2d ser., II. 1889, 305 



(Cape St. Lucas ; Miraflores). 



Although this form has been lately given up by its original describer, Mr. 

 Ridgway,^ I consider it a perfectly good subspecies. Not only do the males 

 iu the hxrge series before me exhibit, with remarkable constancy, the characters 

 which serve to distinguish them from the males of versicolor, but the females, 

 also, differ considerably in color, as well as in proportions, from those of the 

 race just named, the female oi pulchra being decidedly the grayer of the two, 

 especially on the under parts and on the sides of the head and neck. Mr. 

 Ridgway admits that " were it not for the intermediate character of specimens 

 from western Mexico it would be coniparativeh' easy to characterize a sub- 

 species, C. versicolor pulchra, for the Lower California bird." I fail to see, 

 liowever, why the fact that an intermediate region furnishes more or less 

 intermediate specimens should affect the status of the forms in question to a 

 greater degree than that of showing that they are not specifically distinct. 



Winter plunuige: — Adult male (No. 16,3')5, San Jose del Cabo, October 8, 

 1887). With the blue of the rump less purplish than in spring; the purple of 

 the under parts deeper and duller ; the inner secondaries, wing coverts and 

 feathers of the crown, nape, back, rump, and entire under parts (excepting 

 the chin) more or less broadly tipped with brownish olive, this tipping heaviest 

 on the back, where it almost wholly conceals the purplish l)eneath. Another 

 specimen (Xo. 16,264, Triunfo, December 6, ISS7) has the brown confined to 

 the occiput, nape, back, wings, sides of the neck, jugulum, and sides of the 

 body; the rump, forehead, crown, sides of the head, and middle part of the 

 abdomen being nearly as purely colored as in spring. 



Young female (Xo. 16,359, Santiago, November 18, 1887). Above bister, 

 the wings and tail ashy brown, the inner secondaries and greater and middle 

 vnng coverts edged and tipped with clayey lirown ; beneath brownish clay 

 color, deepest on the sides of the neck and body and across the breast, palest 

 on the abdomen, anal region, and crissum. 



In the plumage just described the female of this species is exceedingly diffi- 

 cult to separate from autumnal females of C. amoena. The latter, however, 

 usually have the wings more bluish and the general coloring brighter and more 

 ochraceous. Moreover, the difference in size, and especially in the size and 

 shape of the bill, can usually be relied upon to distinguish the two forms. 



The collection contains no specimen of the young male in winter plumage, 

 but it furnishes a dozen or more spring males in immature plumage. These 



1 Birds N. and Midd. Amer., pt. I. 1901, 592. 



VOL. XLI. — NO. 1 11 



