392 OBERHOLSER, Critical Notes on Auriparus. Aus 
tinged with tawny olive, the head washed with olive yellow; a few 
wholly yellow feathers on the crown. Wings and tail light brown, of a 
shade approaching broccoli brown, the feathers nearly all narrowly 
margined with paler; bend of wing burnt sienna. Sides of head like the 
back, but mixed with many feathers of the new plumage; lower parts 
soiled white, slightly suffused with dull yellow on the breast, and with a 
few bright yellow feathers visible on the chin and throat. 
This form is distinguished from true faviceps by its very much 
shorter tail, somewhat shorter wing, and by the brighter tint 
of the yellow of the head, particularly that on the forehead and 
anterior portion of the crown. This clearness of the yellow of 
the head, though not entirely constant, is apparently an excellent 
average character. 
In two of the five adult males examined there is a noticeable 
rufous patch on the forepart of the crown, and in one of these 
two birds it is quite well defined. In the three other speci- 
mens, including the type, the bases of the feathers on this part of 
the crown show more or less of rufous, which, however, does not 
appear unless the plumage be disturbed. The type and one of 
the others are quite strongly tinged with yellow on the body, 
both above and below; while in the remaining three this color is, 
except on the rump, barely evident posterior to the head and 
throat. The general tone of the plumage above, exclusive of the 
head, is very uniform in three of the specimens; somewhat 
darker in one of the others, and slightly browner in the remaining 
example. A young bird in the U. S. National Museum collection, 
supposed to be from Santa Margarita Island, Lower California, is 
darker above than the specimen here described, but is not other- 
wise importantly dissimilar. As this bird was skinned from 
alcohol its different color may be due to the chemical action of 
the preservative. 
Mr. Bryant included southern Arizona and southern California in 
the range of his western race (/oc. ci¢.), but with the series of Ari- 
zona and Texas specimens now available (some 65 in all) it seems 
impossible satisfactorily to separate the birds from these localities. 
It is true that the birds from Texas are slightly larger, and, even 
in very young plumage, appear to average rather darker than those 
from Arizona, but the difference is very slight and inconstant. 
