Vol. XIV 



■g I ^"E-i^soti, IVezv Birds from Mexico and Gimiemala. CO 



I take pleasure in dedicating this form to Mr. Chas. W. 

 Richmond, Assistant Curator of Birds in the National Museum, 

 who obtained specimens of it in Nicaragua. 



Agelaius gubernator californicus, new subspecies. Cali- 

 fornia BicoLORED Blackbird. 



Type, No. 74278, U. S. Nat. Museum, $ ad., Stockton, California, April 

 17, 1878. Collected by L. Belding. 



Distribution. — Coast region and valleys of California and Oregon north 

 to the Columbia River. 



Description of type, in breeding plumage. — The crown and back of neck 

 and shoulders streaked with the grayish and huffy edgings to feathers ; 

 primaries, secondaries, tertiaries and wing-coverts edged with whitish ; 

 chin and throat fulvous with black shaft-streaks on most of feathers ; entire 

 breast and sides of neck streaked coarsely with the fulvous whitish borders 

 to feathers ; general color of rest of plumage dull blackish. The males 

 of the two forms agree in coloration. The type measures : Wing 108, tail 

 75, culmen 19, tarsus 28. 



In comparing specimens of this species from the table-lands of 

 Mexico with those from California certain differences are found 

 which warrant the naming of a geographical race. As A. guber- 

 nator was described from the table-lands of Mexico it follows 

 that the Californian bird is the new one. 



The breeding females of typical gubernator from the plains of 

 Puebla lack nearly all of the light streaking on the entire upper 

 surface, including the wings, and the light streaks are less 

 marked on the lower surface. 



Among other differences from true gubernator are the notably 

 smaller size and slenderer bills of the northern birds, as shown 

 by the accompanying tables of measurements. The specimens 

 from Atlixco and Patzcuaro are in worn or imperfect plumage so 

 that the dimensions of their wings and tails fall below the normal. 

 The Californian specimens measured were all in good plumage. 



True gubernator ranges over all of the southern end of the 

 Mexican table-land north of Oaxaca, and specimens have been 

 examined from Lagos in Jalisco, Guanajuato, Lake Patzcuaro in 

 Michoacan, the Valley of Mexico, the Plains of Puebla, and 

 Orizaba in Vera Cruz. Between the present ranges of these two 



