172 



NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTION'S IX ALASKA. 



The series of lueasnreiueuts will show the differeuces in proportion upon which the races might 

 based : 



PIXICOLA E>TCLEAXOK. 



eg 



Yukon ami llacken 



Do. 



■liiv 



Largest male 



Largest female 



As the largest dimeDSions of the parts occur in different birds, 

 1 aggregate these in the followmg list tai^en from the males . 



Smallest dimensions of the males are 



Largest dimensions of the females 



Smallest dimeneions o£ the females 



The largest specimen in the Smithsonian collection is from 



Montana, and measures 



A series from the Eastern States aver.ipc 



A series from Alaska average --. 



The largest aggregate measurements fi 'ill I I I ,uis.. 



The.sraallestaggregate measurements li" -iiies. 



Thearerago of the ten examples fromtli.- 1 im m: st m - _iv.n 



above included an example from KacinL% \Vi^., and unothpr 



from the Eed Elver of the North. 



These two examples measure respectively 



And are intermediate between the east coast birds and those 

 from the Rocky Mountain region. Eliminating these two 

 specimens from the Eastern States series, the average from 



that region is as follows , 



Specimens from Kadiak Island and Sitka, Alaska, are identical, 



and average as follows 



Maximum dimensions 



Minimum dimensions 



A male and female from Camp Harney, Oregon, are very much 

 like Kadiak birds in general appearance, and also in' size as 

 shown by the following measurements 



agreeing with the form found both north and south 

 in the Eocky Mountains. 

 The dimensions of a small series of European birds is shown 



below, all of which are from Sweden 



Largest measurements 



Smallest measurements 



The largest bird in this series is a female. 



d and 5 

 cfaud 5 

 rf and 5 

 d and i 



J and $ 

 cf and 9 



Pyrrhtjla cassini (Baird). Cassin's Bullfinch. 



The presence of this bird, as a member of the Xorth American fauna, rests solely upon the 

 capture of a specimen at Xiilato, on the Middle Yukon, June 10, 1867, by Mr. W. H. Dall. In the 

 Transactions of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, wherein are recorded the results of the orni- 

 thological work done during this expedition, Professor Baird describes this bird as a new species. 

 For some years thereafter nothing more was learned of it, but after a time there came a record 

 from the interior of Siberia, in the vicinity of Lake Baikal, where we now know the bird is a rather 

 common resident, and a considerable number of specimens have been obtained from there. As 

 no additional specimens have been secured in Alaska, notwithstanding the labors of several natural- 

 ists, we are forced to conclude that, strangely enough, the type-specimen of this species was an acci- 

 dental straggler, hundreds, if not thousands, of miles from its home. A record has been cited in 

 several instances of this bird's occurrence in Belgium, but I am informed by Dr. Stejneger that this 

 record was based upon a female specimen of the ordinary coccinea; hence the range of this hand- 

 some species is confined, so far as known, to Eastern Siberia, the occurrence of the single specimen 

 noted above in northern Alaska being, apparently, quite accidental. 



During my residence in Alaska I frequently described the bird to natives from Nulato, 

 and showed them a cut of it, and they declared, in repeated instances, that they knew the bird 

 and had found it nesting to the north of Nulato during the spring time. This statement, however, 

 is very untrustworthy, as the natives very likely mistook it for the Pine Grosbeak or some other 

 bird. As still further indicating its scarcity in the Yukon region, 1 may mention that the bird 

 was carefully described to various fur traders and natives, and a large reward offered for its 



