20 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 2 3 7 tart i 



tion to the same sex of C. c. Horidanus, but back, etc., much gi-ayer, 

 and size much greater." 



Its haunts and habits do not seem to differ materially from those of 

 the species elsewhere; it is essentially a bird of the thickets and shrub- 

 bery, even in the vicinity of human habitations. We found it fairly 

 common in the canyons of the Catalina Mountains, and very common 

 in the mesquite forest south of Tucson, where we found a nest with two 

 eggs on May 19, and nests with young on May 19 and 20, 1922. 



In this same region, Griffing Bancroft (1930) found these cardinals 

 breeding plentifully: "Most of them selected the larger and denser 

 trees and built well inside, so that the nest was carefully concealed. 

 They frequented the thicker riparian undergrowths, where the tangle 

 on the alluvial soil attained a height of twenty feet or more." For 

 further notes on this race, see pages 30, 34. 



Eggs. — The measurements of 40 eggs average 24.9 by 18.5 

 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure ^^.5 by 18.8, 

 25.5 by 19.8, 22.2 by 17.6, and 23.8 by 17.0 millimeters. 



Distribution 



Range. — The Arizona cardinal is resident from southern California 

 (Long Beach, Earp), central western and southern Arizona (Bill 

 Williams River, Fort Verde, Salt and Gila river valleys), and south- 

 western New Mexico (Redrock) south to northern Sonora (Puerto 

 Libertad, Carbo, Pilares). 



Egg dates. — Arizona: 40 records, April 6 to July 31; 18 records, 

 May 15 to June 15. 



RICHMONDENA CARDINALIS SEFTONI (Huey) 



Santa Gertrudis Cardinal 



Habits 



Laurence M. Huey (1940) has given the above names to a local race 

 of this species that he discovered in the vicinity of the Santa Gertrurdis 

 Mission, which "is situated in a rocky canyon of the western slope of 

 the main peninsula mountain chain, in the extreme northesatern 

 section of the Viscaino Desert," in central Lower California. 



He says of its characters: "Intermediate in size between the smaller 

 Richmondena cardinalis ignea of the Cape region and the larger R. c. 

 superba of northern Sonora and southern Arizona. R. c. seftoni is 

 considerably paler and has a smaller beak than either of the above 

 compared forms, which, geographically, are its nearest relatives. 

 Both of these characters are at once evident when comparisons are 



