BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 



323 



(9.14); depth of bill at base (live .specimens), .5.8-fc-6.10 (5.97); tarsus, 

 18.08-19.S1 (18.80); middle toe, 12.45-13.97 (13.21). ^ 



Yoang. — Very similar to adult females without black on chin, etc., 

 but streaks on back narrower and less sharply detined, edges of wing- 

 coverts and tertials more rusty, and g-ray of under parts paler, the 

 chest nearly white, ver}^ indistinctly streaked with light grav. 



More southern portions of southwestern United States and southward 

 over Mexican plateau to States of Hidalgo (Irolo, Tula, Pachuca, etc.), 

 Tlaxcala (Huamantla), Puebla (Chapulco, Chalchicomula, Atlixco, etc.), 

 Mexico (City of Mexico), eastern Jalisco (Lagos), etc. ; north to southern 

 California (San Diego, San Bernardino, and Los Angeles counties), 

 Arizona (Fort Whipple, etc.), and southwestern New Mexico (Sierra 

 Hachita, etc.); Lower California, breeding in more northern portions 

 south in winter to the cape district. 



S.[^pimtes] atrnrjularu Cabaxis, Muf^. Hem., i, Apr., 1851, 133, footnote (Mexico). 

 [^Spizellu'\ atrogularis Sclater and Salvix, Nom. Av. Neotr., 1873, 32. 

 Spizella atrogularis JiiDGv,' AY, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., iii, Aug. 24, 1880, 179 232. 

 Spizella atrigularis Baird, Rep. Pacific- E. R. Surv., ix, 1858, 476 (Agua Niieva, 



Coahuila, Mexico) ; ed. 1860 (Birds N. Am.), atlas, pi. 55, fig. 1; Rep. U.S. 



and Max. Bound Surv., ii, pt. ii, 1859, 16, pi. 17, fig. 1 (Agua Nueva) ; Cat. 



N. Am. Birds, 1859, no. 362.— Coues, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1866, 87 



^ Thirteen specimens. 

 Specimens from southern California and Lower California appear to average smaller 

 than those from ^Mexico, and as a rule have the lores less decidedly black ; but so far 

 as color-differences are concerned these seem too slight and inconstant to warrant 

 sul)division of the species. Average measurements of the series examined are as 

 follows: 



Locality. 



six adult males from Coahuila. Tlaxcala, Hidalgo, 

 and Jalisco, Mexico 



Nine adult males from California and Lower Cali- 

 fornia 



Wing. 



Tail. 



FEMALES. 



Five adult females from Tlaxcala, Hidalgo, and 



Puebla, Mexico 



Eight adult females from California 



66.04 

 62. 48 



63.25 

 60.45 



Ex- 

 posed 

 cul- 



70.10 i 9.40 



68.33 

 63.50 



Depth 

 of bill 

 at base, 



9, 40 5. 84 



9.14 

 9.14 



6.10 

 5.84 



Tarsus, 



Middle 

 toe. 



19.56 13.46 

 18.80 I 13.21 



19.05 ! 13.21 

 18.80 ' 12.95 



Should it eventually prove desirable to separate a Californian subspecies the name 

 Spizella atrogularis emra (Coues) may or may not be available; for, notwithstanduig 

 citations of .">Spi2e?;« emra Coues, Ibis, 1865, pp. 118,164" would seem to indicate 

 that the name was first pubhshed there, reference to the volume cited shows that, 

 \\ hile the bird was really described on page 118, no name was given it on that 

 page nor any other! In 1866 (Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., p. 87) Dr. Coues gives the 

 name in the synonymy of S. atrogularis, not, however, as a new name, but as a syno- 

 nym of ,S'. atrogularis, and cites the "Ibis" as above. The name has, therefore, a 

 very peculiar status, and, l)eing essentially a nomen nudum, is probahlg not available 

 for the northwestern birds should it l)e found desirable to separate them. 



