J CO Scott, Early Spring Notes from Southern Arizona. [October 



Sitta pygmaea. — Common, but not associated in large flocks 

 as in the winter. They were generally paired, and I rarely saw 

 more than two pairs together. From the dissection of the females 

 taken, and from the fact that throughout the day I frequently saw 

 the birds going in and out of holes in the dry pine stubs, I con- 

 clude that in some cases the nesting sites had been selected, and 

 that eggs would have been laid, in some cases, by Ma}' i. 



Certhia familiaris mexicana. — A single pair observed, and 

 the male taken (No. 2270), on April 23. They were creeping 

 about on a leafless ash tree, where the pines were rather scatter- 

 ing, and near the point where these trees terminate, well down 

 on the northern slope of the mountains. I heard no song.* 



Catherpes mexicanus conspersus.| — One pair was taken 

 just at the lower limit of the pine region. They had a nest in the 

 vicinity, but my search for it was unavailing. The female had 

 laid all the eggs of this, the first clutch, and possibly had even 

 then young, as the skin of the belly showed that incubation had 

 been going on for some time. Though much has been said 

 of the wonderfully beautiful song of this species I can not but 

 allude to it. For more than a year, two months in winter ex- 

 cepted, this clear, delicious series of whistling notes has been 



* [Mr. Ridgway, in his 'Critical Remarks on the Tree-Creepers {Certhia) of Europe 

 and North America' (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., V, 1882, pp. 111-116), says (p. 116) that 

 Certhia mexicana differs "conspicuously from all the others in the total absence of 

 light tips to the primary coverts." In this character Mr. Scott's specimen agrees per- 

 fectly, there being no trace of white on the primary coverts. The lower parts are also 

 grayish, and the other features of coloration and size agree with the characters given 

 by Mr. Ridgway as distinctive of mexicana (wing, 2.60 ; tail, 2.65), whose habitat he 

 gives as "Guatemala and Southern Mexico." Mr. Brewster has since, however, very 

 positively identified Arizona specimens with var. mexicana (Bull. N. O. C, VII, p. 81 

 April, 1882). 



In his remarks on this species Mr. Ridgway observes that ?nexica?ia "is by no means 

 smaller" than the northern races of Certhia, "thus affording another of the very 

 numerous 'exceptions' to the supposed law of smaller size to the southward of resident 

 species." He adds in a footnote that he has, "in perhaps a majority of cases [he 

 had recently tested] been unable to verify this supposed law of latitudinal variation 

 in size. He then gives the measurements of "the three specimens" of mexicana which 

 he had "been able to examine," the sex of which, however, is not indicated. The 

 average falls considerably below the average for males of the northern races rufa 

 and montana, as given on preceding pages of the same paper. Might it not be fairly 

 asked whether the generalization here reached has sufficient basis, in view of the 

 small number of specimens, and these unknown as to sex? — J. A. A.] 



t [A series of five specimens of this species in Mr. Scott's collection differ much from 

 average Colorado and California specimens, in the head and neck contrasting more 

 strongly with the back, the ground-color being darker and at the same time more pro- 

 fusely spotted, giving a grayer general effect. — |. A. A.] 



