192 Oberholser, Stibspecies of Numenius americanus. [April 



California; south to northeastern California, central western Nevada 

 (probably), southeastern Oregon, northern Idaho, southwestern Montana, 

 central Wyoming, and northern South Dakota; east to northeastern South 

 Dakota, eastern North Dakota, and central southern Manitoba. Winters 

 in Mexico and the southern United States, north to central California, 

 southern Arizona, southern Texas, southern Louisiana, Florida, and 

 Georgia; and south to southern Lower California, Jalisco, and San Luis 

 Potosi, Mexico. Migrates west to western Washington and western Cali- 

 fornia, and east to Iowa; casually east to Rhode Island, New York, and 

 South Carolina, and southeast to Jamaica. 



Remarks. — This is a well differentiated subspecies, although 

 its distinction rests entirely on size, the much shorter bill being 

 one of the best and most readily appreciated characters. While 

 typical specimens are easy to determine, geographic intermediates, 

 such as occur in Wyoming and South Dakota, offer, as would be 

 expected, sometimes difficult problems which are solvable only by 

 average measurements or the average of characters present. An 

 adult specimen taken at a nest near Fort Klamath, Oregon, on 

 May 17, 1878, and now with a set of four eggs preserved in the 

 United States National Museum, is apparently typical Numenius 

 americanus occidentalis, and thus proves the southward extension 

 of the breeding range of this form, as far at least as extreme north- 

 eastern California. It is probable that the curlews that breed in 

 the lakes of the Carson Valley of central western Nevada, although 

 not examined in this connection, are also of this race. No speci- 

 mens of Numenius americanus occidentalis from south of the State 

 of Jalisco in Mexico have been seen, but it doubtless will be found 

 at least nearly as far south as the typical subspecies, i. e., to south- 

 ern Mexico, and possibly to Guatemala. 



In describing this race as Numenius americanus parvus} Dr. 

 Louis B. Bishop rejected the name Numenius occidentalis Wood- 

 house because he assumed that it was evidently an immature 

 individual of Numenius americanus americanus, basing this assump- 

 tion largely on the premise that it must have been collected before 

 August 1. As a matter of fact, however, the type of Numenius 

 occidentalis Woodhouse was collected near Albuquerque, New 

 Mexico, on Aug. 20, 1851, by Dr. S. W. Woodhouse. It was 



« 'The Auk,' XXVII, No. 1, January, 1910, p. 61. 



