508 SwARTH, California Forms of Psultriparus. [oct. 



coverts and cheeks, rather sharply defined against the white of the 

 throat and the gray of the rest of the head and neck. Specimens 

 taken in early spring (February, March, and April) have lost the 

 olivaceous tinge on the dorsum, and the upper parts are uniformly 

 clear gray. Summer specimens (May, June, and July) have the 

 gray dulled by excessive wear of the feathers. 



No. 9956; ju venal female; Huachuca Mountains, Arizona; 

 July 15, 1896. Practically like adult. The gray of the upper parts 

 is duller, less of a blue-gray, the brown cheeks are not so sharply 

 contrasted against the rest of the head, and there is a faintly indi- 

 cated black line over the auriculars and on the nape. Unlike the 

 adults, the young of plumbeus exhibit considerable diversity in 

 markings, and while the above described specimen represents the 

 plumage perhaps most frequently encountered, there is a large 

 proportion of birds with more or less extensive black markings on 

 the head. In a few specimens there is no trace of head markings, 

 a number have them faintly indicated, as in the specimen described 

 above, and in others the patterns vary from a narrow line extending 

 backward from the eye, to nearly as extensive a black marking as 

 in the adult male of P. m. lloydi (see Swarth, 1913, pp. 399^01). 



Geographjcal Variation: It is, of course, the variation shown 

 among individuals from different regions, the study of species and 

 subspecies, that has attracted the attention of most workers in the 

 group, and the present study of the genus, like most others, is the 

 outcome of an attempt to correlate with definite geographic areas 

 certain observed variations in a series of specimens. 



Of recent years there have been published three authoritative 

 accounts of the distribution of the species and subspecies compris- 

 ing the genus Psaltriparus. These, in order of publication, are 

 Oberholser's (1903, pp. 198-201) 'Synopsis of the Genus Psaltri- 

 parus,' Ridgway's (1904, pp. 423-436) treatment of the group in 

 his 'Birds of North and Middle America,' and the A. O. U. 

 Check-List, third edition (1912, pp. 352, 353). As regards the vari- 

 ous races of Psaltriparus viinimus, the contradictory nature of the 

 statements contained in these works has caused much confusion 

 among local students in California. This has resulted in a hap- 

 hazard use of different names for the same bird, according to the 

 authority consulted at the time, with, in recent years, a growing 



