512 SwARTH, California Forms of Psaltriparus. [oct. 



doubtedly to the subspecies minimus. Examples from this region 

 are very dark colored, quite as much so as those from any other 

 part of the coast district — in fact they average duskier on the 

 under parts than specimens from any other point in California. 

 The Portland specimens taken in May, mentioned above, are, it is 

 true, somewhat darker colored than comparable birds taken during 

 the same month in the San Diegan district; but this, I believe, is 

 largely due to the more rapid rate of fading in the sunnier, more arid 

 conditions of the latter region. February birds from Los Angeles 

 are exactly like the May birds from Portland. 



Furthermore, there is no evidence whatever of the existence in 

 southern California of two forms of Psaltriparits minimus, along the 

 coast and in the interior, respectively, as given by the A. O. U. 

 Check -List. But one subspecies occurs in that part of the region 

 inhabited by bush-tits, from the Pacific Ocean to the western edge 

 of the Colorado Desert. It would be surprising if it were otherwise, 

 for there is no other instance (except among the island birds) of two 

 subspecies of any one species being resident in the San Diegan 

 district. 



Specimens are at hand from various outlying points on the boun- 

 daries of this district. Two winter birds from Victorville, at the 

 edge of the Mohave Desert, are unquestionably minimus, and are 

 doubtless wanderers from the neighboring San Bernardino Moun- 

 tains. Birds from Mount Pinos, Ventura County, and the nearby 

 station of Fort Tejon, at the southwestern extremity of Kern 

 County, are likewise minimus, these localities representing the 

 extreme limits of the subspecies in this direction. Four examples 

 from Santa Cruz Island (nos. 3104, 3106, 3265, Mailliard coll., 

 no. 5449 Grinnell coll.) are not to be distinguished from the form 

 occurring on the adjacent mainland. Although the birds are doubt- 

 less resident upon Santa Cruz, the available material does not reveal 

 development of any characters serving to distinguish a separate 

 island race. 



Santa Cruz District (specimens from San Luis Obispo, Monterey, 

 San Benito, Santa Clara, and San Mateo counties). There is a 

 relatively scanty amount of material from this region, but these few 

 specimens are satisfactorily referable to minimus. In fact the only 

 ones calling for comment are two March birds from Paicines, San 



