Vol. X.] MAILLIARD— BIRDS, MAMMALS OF SISKIYOU COUNTY 75 



thick brush near by, the cheery song of the males being a 

 pleasant feature of the morning chorus. There is every reason 

 to believe that the form we found breeding at the base of the 

 mountain, the Yosemite Fox Sparrow, separated and described 

 in 1918, is the one occupying the whole mountain, and is the 

 same form that inhabits the higher altitudes along the Sierra 

 in Plumas County and the Tahoe region, although it was 

 originally recorded from the latter region also as the Thick- 

 billed Fox Sparrow (Passcrella iliaca megarhyncha) . 



Weed is situated at the westerly base of Mt. Shasta, a beauti- 

 ful view of which, seemingly of an even slope from the brush- 

 covered bottom to its glistening summit of snow and ice, is 

 obtained — a view ever changing in character and ever new. 

 The town itself is bordered by a meadow on the eastern side 

 and more or less hemmed in by partly forested hills in other 

 directions, with a small stream, tributary to Little Shasta River, 

 which flows through Shasta Valley into the Klamath, running 

 through it. 



The character of the immediate vicinity is that of the Transi- 

 tion Zone. In addition to many of the more commonly known 

 species found in this zone, we found here the Green-tailed 

 Towhee and Yosemite Fox Sparrow, above mentioned; the 

 Calliope Hummingbird, the Calaveras Warbler, and the Moun- 

 tain Chickadee. Of these five species, three were breeding 

 where we found them at not over 3500 feet elevation, while 

 the Calliope Hummingbird and the Calaveras Warbler were 

 nesting either here or not far away, to judge from their actions. 

 Unfortunately, no females were secured to confirm this, but we 

 later found these two species nesting at about the same elevation 

 as Weed, and under practically similar conditions. , 



A Swainson's Thrush was taken here on May 14, but was 

 probably a migrant, as it is recorded as a summer visitant in 

 Modoc County, northeast of the Shasta region. 



From the meadow in the evening came the call of Wilson's 

 Snipe, and the Nevada Red-wing was there waiting for the 

 meadow grass to grow high enough to make good nesting sites. 



Merriam (op. cit.) makes no mention of the California 

 Purple Finch in the Shasta region, while Townsend (op. cit.) 

 says that it was observed on a few occasions only ; he does 



