62 Oberholser, Notes on N. A. Birds. IV. [j a u * 



NOTES ON NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 

 IV. 



BY HARRY C. OBERHOLSER. 



The notes contained in this article l relate chiefly to the status 

 and relationship of several North American birds. The remarks 

 on one species are, however, nomenclatural. The four species 

 and subspecies here treated belong to the following families: 

 Pelecanidre, Rallidie, Scolopacidae, and Icterida?. 



Pelecanus californicus Ridgway. 



Mr. Robert Ridgway some time ago, 2 and Dr. E. Hartert some- 

 what more recently 3 treated the California Brown Pelican as a 

 subspecies of the eastern bird (Pelecanus ocddentalis Linnaeus); 

 but this disposition recent writers have ignored. A careful exam- 

 ination of the considerable material now available leads to the 

 conclusion that these two authors were correct in their view of its 

 subspecific relationship. The Pacific bird, Pelecanus californicus 

 Ridgway, differs from Pelecanus ocddentalis of the Atlantic side 

 of America in its decidedly larger size, darker brown hind neck, 

 and, in the breeding season, by its reddish gular pouch. Neither 

 the larger size nor the dark brown neck proves to be an entirely 

 trenchant character, so that the only possible reason for treating 

 Pelecanus californicus as a distinct species lies in the fact that during 

 the breeding season its gular pouch becomes reddish. In view, 

 however, of the ephemeral nature of this difference, it seems proper 

 to consider the California Brown Pelican a subspecies of Pelecanus 

 ocddentalis, as Mr. Ridgway and Dr. Hartert have done. Its 

 name becomes, therefore, Pelecanus occidentalis californicus Ridg- 

 way. 



'For previous papers in this series, cf. 'The Auk,' XXXIV, April, 1917, pp. 191-106; 

 XXXIV, July, 1917. pp. 321-329; and XXXIV, October, 1917, pp. 4i;r>-17(i. 

 '- Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XIX, 1897, p. 593. 

 sNovit. Zool., \ 1. 1899, p. 17(i. 



