734 BULLETIN" 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Desert, winter). — Nehrling, Our Native Birds, i, 1893, 96. — Allen, Bull. 

 Am. Mus. N. H., v, 1893, 42 (Oputo, n. Sonora).— Fisher (A. K.), North 

 Am. Fauna, no. 7, 1893, 144 (Resting Spring, s. e. California; Vegas Valley 

 and Bunkerville, s. Nevada). — Bailey (Florence M.), Handb. Birds W. U.S. 

 1902, 466.— Grinnell, Check List Calif. Birds, 1902, 73 (California range). 



[Polioptila'] plumbea Coues, Key N. Am. Birds, 1872, 79. 



P[^oUoptila'\ plumbea Coues, Key N. Am. Birds, 2d ed., 1884, 261. — Ridgway, 

 Man. N. Am. Birds, 1887, 570.— Hellmayr, Tierreich, 18 Lief., 1903, 22. 



FoUoplila melanura Lawrence, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y., vi, 1858, 168 (Ring- 

 gold Barracks, Texas; coll. G. N. Lawrence) . —Baird, Rep. Pacific R. R. 

 Surv., ix, 1858, 382, part (Rio Grande Valley; Fort Yuma); Cat. N. Am. 

 Birds, 1859; no. 284, part; Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1859, 301, 304 (Cape 

 St. Lucas); Review Am. Birds, 1864, 68, part (Cape St. Lucas; Fort Yuma). — 

 Heermanx, Rep. Pacific R. R. Surv., x, pt. iv, no. 2, 1859, 39 (Fort Yuma and 

 junction Gila and Colorado rivers; habits; notes). — Coues, Proc. Ac. Nat. 

 Sci. Phila., 1866, 66 (Pima villages, etc., Arizona) ; Check List, 1873, no. 24, ' 

 part; 2d ed., 1882, no. 37, part; Birds Col. Val., 1878, 106, part.— Cooper, 

 Orn. Col., 1870, 37, part (Fort Mojave, California). — Baird, Brewer, and 

 Ridgway, Hist. N. Am. Birds, i, 1874, 81, part; iii, 1874, 502, part ( Arizona). — 

 Henshaw, Rep. Orn. Spec. Wheeler's Surv., 1874, 155 (Arizona). 



P[olioptila] vielarniru Coues, Key N. Am. Birds, 2d ed., 1884, 261, part. 



POLIOPTILA CALIFORNICA Brewster. 

 BLACK-TAILED GNATCATCHER. 



Similar to /*. plu/nbea, but much darker, and with still less white 

 on lateral rectrices. 



Adult male. — Entire pileum uniform g"lossy blue-black; hindneck, 

 back, scapulars, lesser wing-coverts, and rump uniform slate color; 

 wings (except lesser coverts) dull brownish slate with paler edgings; 

 upper tail-coverts and tail black, the two outermost rectrices margined 

 at tip with white, the exterior one with outer web edged with white; 

 sides of head, below black pileum, and under parts pale gra}'' (between 

 no. 7 and no. 8), becoming white on center of abdomen and anal 

 region; maxilla black; mandible blackish terminally, grayish basally; 

 iris brown; legs and feet dusk}^; length (skins), 96-106 (102.6); wing, 

 44.5-47(45.9); tail, 49-50.5 (49.6); exposed culmen, 9-9.5 (9.1); tarsus, 

 17-18 (17.4); middle toe, 9.« 



Adult female. — No black on pileum; above slate color (duller than 

 in adult male), becoming more olive (sometimes decidedly olive) on 

 back, scapulars, and rump; otherwise like adult male; length (skins), 

 95-105 (100); wing, 44.5-47.5 (45.8); tail, 48-51 (49.7); exposed cul- 

 men, 9-9.5 (9.2); tarsus, 18; middle toe, 9.* 



Southern California, west and north of Colorado Desert, and Pacific 

 coast district of northern Lower California; north to Ventura County, 



« Five specimens. ^ Three specimens. 



