Vol. XIV 
foag PatmER, The Sitkhan Kinglet. 399 
reason to believe there is a marked color change without moult 
or abrasion. The wing- and tail-feathers are moulted but once a 
year, in August and September. 
The Willow Goldfinch is a characteristic inhabitant of the willow 
copses which border the marshes and sluggish streams of the 
lowlands. In summer, in Southern California, it is confined 
almost exclusively to these localities. But in fall and winter it 
gathers in small flocks and haunts the sunflower patches on the 
mesas, and even the mountain caiions, feeding on the buds and 
seeds of the sycamores and alders. 
I am indebted to Mr. Robert Ridgway of the National Museum 
for suggestions in regard to this paper, and to the authorities of 
the National Museum for the loan of a series of S. ¢rists for 
comparison. 
bE 
THE SITKAN KINGLET. 
BY WILLIAM PALMER. 
Turee adult summer Ruby-crowned Kinglets, collected by 
Mr. Joseph Grinnell near Sitka, Alaska, and two others, a spring 
male and an immature, collected at the same place by Fred. 
Bischoff, differ so much from many specimens of Regulus calen- 
dula with which I have compared them as to be worthy of sepa- 
ration by name. 
Regulus calendula grinnelli, subs. nov. Sitkan KINGLET. 
Differential Characters. — Above sooty dark olive (similar to &. 
obscurus) darkening to blackish along sides of vermilion crown patch. 
Beneath, throat and breast dusky gray; abdomen whitish tinged with 
yellowish. Bill slenderer at tip and broader at base than in calendula 
and laterally indented in the center. Wings with dark parts nearly 
black. Size between R. calendula and R. obscurus. Type, adult g, No. 
160931, U. S. Nat. Mus. Collection (No. 1161, J. G. Coll.). Collected by 
Joseph Grinnell, June 23, 1896, Sitka, Alaska. 
Immature [%].— Above rich brownish olive, much darker than in 
calendula of same age. Beneath brighter than in same. Size smaller 
with longer and more slender bill. Wings darker with narrower and 
yellower bars. No. 45928, U. S. Nat. Mus. Coll., Sitka, 1866; Fred. 
Bischoff. 
