1017 BIRDS OF THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ISLANDS 75 



wing lucasiii-cinent of tlic few hirds from Santa Cruz, while sliglitly less, is not 

 enough so to merit recognition on this character. I have examined two males 

 from San ^lignel, one from Santa Barhara and two from Los Coronados Islands, 

 hut lliese ai-e all in such worn ]ilumages as to he well nigli worthless in the pres- 

 ent eoniKM'tion. In eoloi-ation, while the island hirds are fre(|uently moi'e hrilli- 

 ant than is usual among mainland specimens, occasional individuals of the latter 

 are sometimes still more intense. We therefore have not a single constant crite- 

 rion w'herehy clementis can be identified, though possibly larger series from some 

 of the other islands, as the Coronados, Santa Barbara or San ]\Iiguel may de- 

 velop some such character. 



130. Loxia curvirostra Strickland! Ridgway 



INIexican Crossbill 



Loxia curvirostra stricklandi (1) Howell and van Rossem, Condor, xiii, 1911, p. 210. (2) 



Willett, Pac. Coast Avif., 7, 1912, p. 74. 

 Tjoxia curvirostra bendirei (3) Grlnnell, Pac. Coast Avif., 11, 1915, p. 108. 



A. van Rossem and I (i) discovered these birds to be present on Santa Cru^ 

 Island in the spring of 1911, in numbers sufficient to preclude the possibility of 

 their being merely stragglers to the region. They were found only in the pine 

 timber below the high ridges in the vicinity of Prisoner's Harbor, and we were 

 pretty sure, with careful searching, to encounter them each time that we went to 

 this region, though they were rather wild and hard to locate. Van Rossem saw 

 a pair April 28, and shot the male, I shot a pair from a flock of eight on ^May 1, 

 and the former took the female to a pair, and saw three others, on the 2nd. 



There is the possibility that these birds were merely winter visitants, but I 

 personally believe that they are resident on the island. The date was a late one 

 for them to be lingering in a W'inter home, and they were evidently beginning to 

 pair off. Another point is that, although a little low zonally, these pine woods 

 have a very boreal appearance and should provide a suitable home for them. 



I have, with the help of J. Grinnell, carefully compared the three island 

 birds now available with the large series of Loxia in the Berkeley Museum of 

 Vertebrate Zoology. They are practically indistinguishable from L. r. hendirei, 

 and so are nuich closer to stricklandi than to minor. 



131. Passer domesticus (Linnaeus) 



English Sparrow^ 



Passer domesticus (1) Dawson, Condor, xvii, 1915, p. 204. 



As yet, only accidental on the islands. On San Clemente, ]\Iarch 30. 1915, L. 

 M. Huey and I each saw a male of this species during different times of the day. 

 This was at the corrals, and as we did not see the bird again, I am hoping that 

 the charge of shot which I sent after him took effect. W. L. Dawson (/) also 

 noted a lone female on Santa Cruz, April 18, 1915. 



