836 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. voi..xxiv. 
sessing portions of her worn brecdino- plumage, had evidentl}^ reared 
her brood not far away, and was even not impossil)ly the parent of 
these two young. But it is perhaps easier to say what these three 
birds are not than to determine what they I'eall}' are. The}' are alto- 
gether too dark for leitcolwrna or actia,, and therefore can not be 
referred to either of these forms. The 3'oung ])irds very closely 
resemble mcrrilll., and are thus altogether too grayish to be ruhea. 
The adult female, however, though showing some tendency toward 
DierrUll in the pinkish tinge to the upper tail-coverts and bend of the 
wing, as well as in the rather darker color of the Ixick, is otherwise so 
rufescent and moreover so small that it seems scarcely to be disposed 
of satisfactorily by reference to that form. A breeding male from 
the same vicinity, however, is quite the same as specimens of xtrtgata 
from the coast region of Oregon and Washington; and a sufficient 
series would undoubtedly prove all the birds from about Lake Tahoe 
to be of the same kind. We have thus here a curiously complicated 
condition: True merrilli from northeastern California produces, by 
infusion of ruhra and aet'ia on the summit of the Sierra Nevada in 
California, a ))ird apparently just \\\s.Q,strigata; while oyer on the east 
slope of the same range, onl}' a short distance away, by intergradation 
with leueokona^ it becomes indistinguishable ironi praticola. 
During the winter hicrrUli ranges southward in California as far as 
the latitude of San Francisco Bay, and in Nevada probably to at least 
the central portion of the State. 
Specimens vary considerably in the shade of the nape, in the clear- 
ness of color on the black dorsal area, as well as in the intensity and 
distribution of the yelloAV which sometimes, particularly in winter, is 
very bright and sufl'uses the entire head, tinging also even the lower 
surface posterior to the black jugular area, as in strlgata. 
Ninety-six specimens examined, from the following localities: 
California. — Montague;* Vinton, Sierra Vallg}-;'^' TuleLake;* Fort 
Crook;* Mount Shasta; Gridley; Marj^sville; Stockton; Beber;* Bald 
Mountain, Shasta County; Madelin Plains;* Enterprise; Quincy; 
Summit (Donner).* 
Idaho.— Yo^t Falls.* 
Montana. — Tobacco Plains.* 
Wevada. — Mountain City;* Carson;* Washoe Lake;* Pyramid 
Lake.* 
Oregon. — Camp Harney ; Wapinitia;* Heppner;* Steens Mountains;* 
Rock Creek;* Antelope;* Grand Ronde Valley;* Christmas Lake;* 
Willows Junction;* Barren Valley; Detroit; The Dalles; Fort 
Klamath.* 
Washhu/ton. — Spokane Falls;* Fort Walla Walla; Touchet; Sunnv- 
side.* 
British Coluinhia. — Chilliwack; Kamloops;* Oosoyos; Ashcroft;* 
Sumas Lake. 
