96 PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA No, 12 
from San Miguel and Santa Rosa. G. Willett (19), in June, 1910, found it to 
be one of the commonest birds on San Miguel, and during the same month he 
noted it on Santa Rosa also. 
J. Grinnell (20) at one time referred birds from San Clemente to S. 0. pul- 
verius, but H. 8. Swarth (25), after having examined larger series, states that 
birds from that island are indistinguishable from those of the mainland. 
178. Salpinctes obsoletus pulverius Grinnell 
San Nicouas Rock WREN 
Salpinctes obsoletus (1) Streator, Orn. & Ool., xi11, 1888, p. 54. (2) Keeler, Zoe, 1, 1891, 
p. 340. (3) Grinnell, Pasadena Acad. Sci., 1, 1897, p. 10. 
Salpinctes obsoletus pulverius (4) Grinnell, Auk, xv, 1898, p. 287. (5) Bailey, Handb. 
Birds West. U. S., 2d ed., 1904, p. 448. (6) Ridgway, Birds North & Mid. Am., 1m, 
1904, p. 649. (7) Linton, Condor, x, 1908, p. 129. (8) A. O. U. Committee, Auk, xxv, 
1908, p. 350. (9) A. O. U. Check-list, 3d ed., 1910, p. 336. (70) Linton, Condor, 
xm, 1911, p. 109. (11) Linton, Auk, xxvii, 1911, p. 489. (72) Willett, Pac. Coast 
Avif., 7, 1912, p. 101. (123) Grinnell, Pac. Coast Avif., 8, 1912, p. 17. (14) Swarth, 
Condor, xvi, 1914, p. 211. (15) Grinnell, Pac. Coast Avif., 11, 1915, p. 157. 
Salpinctes pulverius (16) Grinnell, Pac. Coast Avif., 3, 1902, p. 68. 
Confined to San Nicolas Island where it is a common resident. Originally 
described by J. Grinnell (4) from birds taken on San Nicolas, May 19, 1897. 
Characterized as differing from obsoletus in larger feet and bill, and more buffy 
coloration. H.S. Swarth (14), after assembling all available specimens of this 
genus from the Pacific Coast, states that although the buffy coloration is very 
pronounced in San Nicolas specimens with worn and abraded plumage, it is 
merely an adventitious acquisition and one that cannot be regarded as a subspe- 
cific character, for birds taken in freshly acquired autumnal plumage are indis- 
tinguishable in color and pattern from mainland birds in similar feather. He 
thus comes to the conclusion that the only subspecifie difference is a_ slightly 
greater length of culmen. 
J. Grinnell (3) found these birds shy, and the adults especially, hard to ap- 
proach. They were very numerous over the whole island, but unusually so along 
the dry watercourses. From May 19 to 26, 1897, he found juvenals more abund- 
ant than adults. As G. Willett (72) discovered a nest in a sandstone cliff con- 
taining a single fresh egg, as late as June 24, 1911, they must raise at least two 
broods each year. On April 14, 1911, C. B. Linton (7) noted a pair carrying 
nesting material into a crack under the eaves of a storehouse close to where sheep 
were being sheared, but like the mainland bird, the usual site chosen is a pocket 
in a boulder or cliff. A set of six incubated eggs collected by H. Gaylord from 
a erack in a clayey bank of a gully, May 22, 1897, average .80x.64 inches. 
179: Catherpes mexicanus conspersus Ridgway 
CANYON WREN 
Catherpes mexicanus conspersus (1) van Rossem, Condor, x1, 1909, p. 208. 
On the Coronados, March 29, 1909, A. van Rossem (7) shot an adult male 
Catherpes which J. Grinnell pronounced C. m. polioptilus, stating that it was 
