280 V nin rsity of California Publications in Zoology I Vol. 10 



similar in lower Palm Canon to what they arc at Mecca; at least 

 is this true of those conditions immediately surrounding the song 

 sparrow. In Palm Canon, just the same as a1 Mecca, the plants 

 foraged through are arrow-weed, mesquite, and small areas of 

 wire grass. 



It is probable thai song sparrows in Palm Canon have been 

 there for a1 least several generations, for the senior author col- 

 lected a specimen typical of cooperi there December 28, L903. 

 It would therefore appear that the supposedly "susceptible" 

 song sparrow (at any rate in this nice is in reality no1 sub- 

 ject to quick modification of characters in the lifetime of the 

 individual, or through several successive generations. 



It is patenl Prom geographic contiguity, as well as characters, 

 that the colonies inhabiting Palm Canon and others of the canons 

 of the desert drainage of the San Jacintos, were originally 

 stocked from the Pacific side. The elapsed time has not been 

 snfticient for the impress by the new and strange environment 

 of modifications to a perceptible degree. 



It would appear that here, under perfectly natural condi- 

 tions, we have an experiment of just the sorl demanded by 

 experimentalists to prove whether or not subspecific differences 

 are subject to abrupt modification by changed environment. In 

 this case the characters are much more stable than has been 

 supposed see Beebe, 1907 . 



Melospiza lincolni lincolni Audubon 

 Lincoln Sparrow 

 Pound only in the Boreal meadows of Tahquitz Valley and 

 Round Valley. Here during July we found them in fair abund- 

 ance in the wet. veratrum-covered cienagas, though the birds were 

 inconspicuous, and not readily seen. A large proportion id' the 

 specimens secured were caughl in mouse traps set for meadow 

 mice and shrews. Early in duly. a1 the time of our arrival at 



the points where the species was encoiilit ere< 1. the young were 



already out and flying about. 



Twenty-two specimens were preserved, twelve adults and ten 

 juvenals, nine from Hound Valley (nos. 2097 2102, 2197-2199 . 

 and thirteen from Tahquitz Valley (nos. 2916 2928}. 



