74 Oberholser, Subspecies of Piranga hepatica. [Jan. 



cutting, a Solitaire flew off her nest and passed in front of the car. Her 

 nest was in a small crevice in the rock cutting, five feet above the road, 

 and -would have been on the level of a man's eye, walking along the ground. 

 The nest was built of dry grass, twigs, fine roots and moss, lined with fine 

 grass and contained four partly incubated eggs. 



The young are slim handsome birds conspicuously spotted with silvery 

 buff on the lower parts, head and back. 



The alarm note is similar to the " chuck chuck " of the Hermit Thrush. 

 In a recent number of the Condor, 1 Mr. Forrest S. Hanford states, that 

 during thirteen years, he has heard the Solitaire sing only five times. 

 In this district, they sing quite freely, during the nesting season; generally 

 perched on the very top of a Douglas fir or Murray pine. I have frequently 

 heard them singing in the winter. 



In the winter months their food is largely the acrid berries of the dwarf 

 juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) . 



DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SUBSPECIES OF PIRANGA 

 HEPATICA SWAINSON. 



BY HARRY C. OBERHOLSER. 



The geographic range of Piranga hepatica hepatica, as now under- 

 stood, extends from Arizona to southern Mexico. Examination 

 of a series of 115 specimens of this species in the United States 

 National Museum, including the Biological Survey collection, 

 reveals the existence of an additional and undescribed subspecies 

 from the southwestern United States. This we venture to name 



Piranga hepatica oreophasma, subsp. nov. 



Chars, subsp. — In general, similar to Piranga hepatica hepatica, from 

 central and southern Mexico, but larger, with a relatively somewhat smaller 

 bill; male with upper-parts darker, the back also more reddish, and 

 ventral surface more deeply colored; female with upper and lower parts 

 rather darker, the back averaging also somewhat more grayish (less green- 

 ish). 



1 Vol. XIX. January-February, 1917, page 13. 



