294 Grinnell, Range of the Mockingbird in California. [ July- 



are all we have from the Sacramento Valley, and since recent inquiry 

 of persons living in that region has failed to elicit positive evidence 

 of its occurrence there at the present time, it is fair to conclude that 

 the species has not found the conditions sufficiently congenial to 

 bring about its establishment there as a regular component of the 

 avifauna. (See Map.) 



Continuing to the southward in central California, Stockton is 

 the next record station. Here the bird has been observed in both 

 winter and summer, though in small numbers (Belding, 1. c). 

 In the foothills of Calaveras County (Big Trees and Copperopolis) 

 it has been noted rarely (Belding, 1. c). From the vicinity of 

 Merced south through the San Joaquin Valley to the region about 

 Bakersfield, the Mockingbird is well known as a common resident 

 and breeding species in favorable places ; and as the plains are being 

 reclaimed for orchards and ranches, the range of the Mockingbird 

 is enlarging and covering the region more continuously. On the 

 east side of the valley, next to the foothills, the conditions are 

 apparently most favorable. This general information has been 

 gathered from several separate and reliable sources. 



While record stations would appear to show a continuity of 

 breeding range from the San Joaquin area through the Tehachapi 

 and Walker passes to the Mojave Desert, it is not at all certain that 

 this is the case. It is not apparent from the literature at hand 

 whether records are of birds actually nesting, or of mere stragglers. 

 If the latter, their significance is not important in this connection. 

 It is quite certain that portions of the breeding range of the 

 Mockingbird, even within California, are wholly disconnected from 

 others. This is obviously true in the case of Santa Cruz, Santa 

 Catalina and San Clemente Islands, on each of which the species 

 is known to breed. Although occurring on these islands in winter 

 as well as in summer, it is not safe to assert that individuals do not 

 pass back and forth between islands, and from the islands to the 

 mainland. This crossing is certainly but little less to be expected 

 than the apparent wintering on the Mojave and Colorado deserts 

 of individuals which summer a hundred or more miles distant in 

 the Panamint and adjacent mountains. No differences have been 

 detected between specimens of the Mockingbird from different 

 portions of its range in California, even those from the islands 



