304 DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



tion in all characters between the best marked extremes." In 

 the American Naturalist (xxii, 18S8, p. 1 122-24) a review of Prof. 

 W. J. McGee's paper before the A. O. U. states: "The two 

 species or geograpical varieties, whichever they may be, are dis- 

 tinguished by certain peculiarities in their song. The eastern 

 species, SturncUa magna, extends about two-thirds wa}- across 

 the state of Iowa, while the western form, S. neglccta, is found 

 nearly as far east as the Mississippi River. At the extremes of 

 distribution both of the forms are easily recognized and are typi- 

 cal examples. But in the intervening region, where the two 

 overlap, as it were, the birds were not to be positively separated 

 by note alone, a sight of the bird being generally necessary for 

 positive identification. Whether the variation in song was due to 

 imitation of one by the other or to an actual intermingling of the 

 two, he did not attempt to decide." 



T. M. Trippe noted the occurrence of the two forms together 

 •in Decatur and Mahaska counties, .S". magna predominating (Proc. 

 Bost. Soc, XV, 1872, p. 239), saying: "The former [negleda) is 

 never heard after the first of September, although it arrives as 

 soon, or a little before the other, viz., early in March, while the 

 latter remains till November. I have never heard a bird whose 

 notes were intermediate between the two." 



A series of fifty-six skins in the Talbot collection. University 

 museum, collected at Sioux Cit}', Iowa, mostly in June, July and 

 August, are all typical negleda, showing no intergradation, aver- 

 aging as pale as a series from Nebraska and Indian Territory, 

 and paler than a specimen from Provo, Utah. One specimen. 

 No. 18004, male, Sioux City, June 15, 1884, is darker than the 

 others, with anterior bars confluent, but with yellow encroaching 

 on cheeks; a very similarly marked specimen. No. 17786, was 

 taken in Johnson county, April 12, 1890. No. 17786, taken at 

 Elm Creek, Nebraska, November 6, 1884, has the bill curved in 

 an arc like that of the California Thrasher, but the bill is more 

 slender. Some count}^ records of interest are given: 



"One was killed at Iowa City this year. The species is gradu- 

 ally moving eastward; quite common in Fayette" (Paul Bartsch); 

 a specimen taken in spring of 1892 by H. J. Giddings, in Jackson 

 county (Iowa Orn., i, 2, 1895, p. 41). "In Blackhawk and Har- 

 din counties this form seems to be gradually crowding out the 



