1 86 Oberiiolser 0)1 a Ne-v Marsh Wren. [A^ril 



September, not rare, in fact rather common. Blood's (Calaveras 

 Co.), July i6, 1880, shot an adult female which probably had a 

 nest ; specimen sent to the Smithsonian Institution." ^ 



Dr. A. K. Fisher in his report on the birds of the Death Valley 

 expedition, ■■^ says of this species : " Mr. Nelson saw a fine adult 

 male Pine Grosbeak in brilliant plumage on the head of the San 

 Joaquin River, July 30 (1891). This individual was the only one 

 seen during the year." 



I have described this form as a subspecies somewhat in opposi- 

 tion to the canons of the American Ornithologists' Union, for I 

 have seen no examples of intergradation. However, these may 

 be expected from the higher mountains northward, the Sierra form 

 being the most southern representative of the genus. 



Unlike the Pine Grosbeaks living in the far north, these birds 

 probably find it unnecessary to migrate any great distance in 

 winter. If the weather is too severe on the alpine summits, they 

 can in a moment drop down into the deep cafions which furrow 

 the western flank of the Sierra, and find a temperate climate and 

 abundance of food. 



CRITICAL REMARKS ON CISTOTHORUS PALUSTRIS 

 (WILS.) AND ITS WESTERN ALLIES. 



BY HARRY C. OBERHOLSER. 



The typical form of Cistothorus palnsti-is inhabits the greater 

 portion of the eastern United States and southern British America, 

 west to at least Kansas and Manitoba. Upon the Pacific Coast 

 it is replaced by CistotJwrus p. paludicola of Baird ; while the birds 



' Land Birds of the Pacific District, by Lyman Belding. Occasional Papers 

 of the CaUf. Acad, of Sciences, II, 1890, p. 131. 



* North American Fauna, No. 7, Pt. II, U. S.Dept. of Agriculture, Washing- 

 ton, 1893, p. 79. 



