20 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 124 



3. Vancouver hermit thrush: Catharus guttatus vaccinius 

 (dimming). — Dark, Brownish Olive. Small: cf (6 specimens), wing 

 86.5-93. 5 (90), tail 64-69.5 (66.9), culmen 12.5-13 (12.8), tarsus 

 27-29 (27.9), midtoe 15-16.5 (15.7); 9 (4 specimens), wing 86.5-90.5 

 (89.4), tail 66-68.5 (67.3), culmen 12.5-14 (13.1), tarsus 27-30 (28.4), 

 midtoe 16-17 (16.3). 



Darker and longer tarsus than oromelus; longer wing, shorter bill, 

 and darker than slevini; more grayish than nanus; darker than 

 guttatus. 



Breeds on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and in a very limited 

 area on the mainland near Vancouver. 



Winters on Pacific Coast from southwestern British Columbia 

 (Victoria) south to California (Pasadena). Eastward in migration 

 to Idaho (Moscow) and New Mexico (Mogollon Mountains). 



Swarth (1912) first suggested the distinctness of a dark Vancouver 

 Island population on the basis of six juvenile specimens, and Cumming 

 (1933) accurately described it as a separate subspecies giving it the 

 name "vaccinia." There is no indication in either the original descrip- 

 tion of vaccinius or in the present study of a smaller size among breed- 

 ing specimens from Vancouver Island as compared with the breeding 

 examples from coastal areas farther north mentioned by McCabe 

 and McCabe (1932). If anything, Vancouver Island specimens are 

 larger than more northern coastal birds. Since the original description, 

 most investigators seem to have overlooked the distinctive characters 

 of this race and have usually incorporated the Vancouver Island 

 population under nanus (=verecundus). Munro and Cowan (1947), 

 the American Ornithologists' Union (1957), Phillips (1962), and 

 Ripley (1964) followed this course. The main character distinguishing 

 vaccinius from nanus is the more grayish or sooty (less reddish) brown 

 coloration of the upperparts. Munro and Cowan (1947) described 

 specimens from the "mainland coast adjacent to Vancouver" as 

 appearing to share the characters of both nanus and oromelus, but 

 included the specimens under the former name. The present writer, 

 in Jewett et al. (1953), recognized the distinctness of the dark relatively 

 grayish Vancouver Island race but made the error of incorporating 

 northern Washington State and adjoining portions of British Columbia 

 within its range. It appears from the present study that the very 

 dark characters of vaccinius do not apply extensively to mainland 

 populations although birds occupying a mountain habitat adjacent 

 to Vancouver are included herein in the range of vaccinius on the 

 basis of characters noted by Munro and Cowan (1947). 



4. Monterey hermit thrush: Catharus guttatus slevini 

 (Grinnell). — Pale, Light Brownish Olive, sparsely spotted below. 

 Shortest wing, long bill: cf (11 specimens), wing 82-88.5 (84.8), tail 



