KERN REDWING 175 



indistinguishable from the general run of neutralis, while the form on 

 the east is sonoriensis, and that on the northeast is Grinnell's new 

 form, nevadensis." 



A. J. van Rossem (1926) gives the following diagnosis for the Kern 

 redwing : 



Size larger and bill longer than in any other California race. Males very similar 

 to californicus both in individual and average amount of black present on exposed 

 portions of middle wing coverts. Females also paralleling californicus in vari- 

 ability, but coloration richer; feather edgings, where present, stronger in tone, 

 with rich browns and buff at a maximum; grays at a minimum. * * * 



In view of its coloration acicvlatus is obviously of "gube?-nator" origin, and 

 because of its isolated habitat it has not been affected by the thick-billed "phoeni- 

 ccus" stock which is now dominant in the San Diegan Faunal Area and in parts 

 of the San Joaquin Valley. Such modification as has taken place has come from 

 the east, from the slender-billed chain, as is at once apparent from bill proportion 

 and shape. * * * 



Aciculatus departs entirely from its breeding grounds directly after the nesting 

 season. The bulk of the individuals probably winter in the San Joaquin Valley, 

 but because of their comparatively limited numbers the collecting of one is a 

 matter of chance. There is at hand a female taken at Buena Vista Lake on 

 December 30, a young male from the same locality April 14 (not breeding) and 

 an adult male from Corona, Riverside County, December 8. Trie Corona male 

 is not typical but is best referable to this race. 



Mailliard (1915b) in a later paper makes these further remarks on 

 the Kern redwing: 



That the habitat of the" Kern Red-wing is extremely limited seems, from our 

 present knowledge, to be a reasonable conclusion, even though it is known to 

 inhabit two districts rather widely separated topographically. The first place 

 where it was found was the "Walker Basin," which is a meadowlike valley of 

 only a few thousand acres in extent, separated from the San Joaquin Valley by a 

 range of mountains over four thousand feet high, its only outlet being by way of 

 a narrow gorge through which the Walker Creek flows into the Kern River, whose 

 bed is at the bottom of a narrow canyon for miles below the point of intersection. 

 The marshy portion of the Walker Basin is so limited that but few individuals 

 exist there. In fact we saw none at all while passing along the edge of this dis- 

 trict, but van Rossem took some there in 1914. 



As far as we know, the next, and only other, spot where these birds are to be 

 found is on the South Fork of the Kern River, some four or five miles above its 

 junction with the North Fork, twenty-five or thirty miles farther inland than 

 the Walker Basin and separated from it by two fairly high ranges of mountains, 

 the river itself being probably at an elevation at this point of some 3,000 feet. 

 Here the narrow valley opens out a bit, to half a mile or more in width, with "fans" 

 covered with desert vegetation running up into the steep canyons that cut into the 

 masses of shattered rock which constitute the mountains on either side. In the 

 comparatively level bottom are small marshy spots and lagunas where bunches of 

 tules or cat-tails grow, while in places water has been brought in from the river and 

 alfalfa or barley is grown. 



We found the red-wings mostly in the lagunas, or near them, though some were 

 seen among the hundreds of Brewer Blackbirds (Euphagus cyanocephalus) which 

 were following the water as it spread over the fields and feasting on the insects 



