96 PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA No. 12 



from San Miguel and Santa Rosa. G. Willett {19), in June, 1910, found it to 

 be one of the commonest birds on San Miguel, and during the same month he 

 noted it on Santa Rosa also. 



J. Grinnell {20) at one time referred birds from San Clemente to 8. o. pul- 

 verius, but H. S. Swarth {25), after having examined larger series, states that 

 birds from that island are indistinguishable from those of the mainland. 



178. Salpinctes obsoletus pulverius Grinnell 



San Nicolas Rock Wren 



Salpinctes obsoletus (1) Streator, Orn. & Ool., xiii, 1888, p. 54. (2) Keeler, Zoe, i, 1891, 

 p. 340. (3) Grinnell, Pasadena Acad. Sci., i, 1897, p. 10. 



Salpinctes ohsoletus pulverius (4) Grinnell, Auk, xv, 1898, p. 237. (J) Bailey, Handb. 

 Birds West. U. S., 2d ed., 1904, p. 443. (6) Ridgway, Birds North & Mid. Am., in, 

 1904, p. 649. (7) Linton, Condor, x, 1908, p. 129. (8) A. O. U. Committee, Auk, xxv, 

 1908, p. 350. {9) A. O. U. Check-list, 3d ed., 1910, p. 336. ilO) Linton, Condor, 

 XIII, 1911, p. 109. ill) Linton, Auk, xxviii, 1911, p. 489. (/:?) Willett, Pac. Coast 

 Avif., 7, 1912, p. 101. (13) Grinnell, Pac. Coast Avif., 8, 1912, p. 17. (///) Swarth, 

 Condor, xvi, 1914, p. 211. (15) Grinnell, Pac. Coast Avif., 11, 1915, p. 157. 



Salpinctes pulverius (16) Grinnell, Pac. Coast Avif., 3, 1902, p. 68. 



Confined to San Nicolas Island where it is a common resident. Originally 

 described by J. Grinnell {4) from birds taken on San Nicolas, ]\Iay 19, 1897. 

 Characterized as differing from ohsoletus in larger feet and bill, and more liuffj' 

 coloration. H. S. Swarth {14), after assembling all available specimens of this 

 genus from the Pacific Coast, states that although the buffy coloration is very 

 pronounced in San Nicolas specimens with worn and abraded plumage, it is 

 merely an adventitious acquisition and one that cannot be regarded as a subspe- 

 cific character, for birds taken in freshly acquired autumnal plumage are indis- 

 tinguishable in color and pattern from mainland birds in similar feather. He 

 thus comes to the conclusion that the only subspecific difference is a slightly 

 greater length of culmen. 



J. Grinnell {3) found these birds shy, and the adults especially, hard to ap- 

 proach. They were very numerous over the whole island, but unusually so along 

 the dry watercourses. From May 19 to 26, 1897, he found juvenals more abund- 

 ant than adults. As G. Willett {12) discovered a nest in a sandstone cliff con- 

 taining a single fresh egg, as late as June 24, 1911, they must raise at least two 

 broods each year. On April 14, 1911, C. B. Linton (7) noted a pair carrying 

 nesting material into a crack under the eaves of a storehouse close to where sheep 

 were being sheared, but like the mainland bird, the usual site chosen is a pocket 

 in a boulder or cliff. A set of six incubated eggs collected by H. Gaylord from 

 a crack in a clayey bank of a gully, May 22, 1897, average .8()x.64 inches. 



179. Catherpes mexicanus conspersus Ridgway 



Canyon AVren 

 Catherpes mexicanus conspersus (1) van Rosseni, Condor, xi, 1909, p. 208. 



On the Coronados, March 29, 1909, A. van Rossem {1) shot an adult male 

 Catherpes which J. Grinnell pronounced C. m. polioptiJus, stating that it was 



