54 University of California Publications in Zoology [Vol. 10 



species; the red in the adult males more intense, the ground color 

 of the females more olivaceous. Occasional California specimens, 

 however, are not to be distinguished from the Vancouver birds. 



Loxia curvirostra minor (Brehm) 



Crossbill 



Common at many of the points visited. Vliss Alexander and 

 Miss Kellogg collected a number of specimens at Parksville and 

 Errington, in April and May, when they were gathered in large 

 flocks. A few wen- seen at Beaver Creek from time to time in 

 June, but they were imt abundant. At the Golden Eagle Basin. 

 in July, they were quite numerous, gathered in flocks of old and 

 young together, but usually feeding in the tree tops, where they 

 received the benefit of the sunshine, and seldom descending to the 

 ground below where the sun 's rays rarely penetrated. None was 

 seen either at Nootka Sound or at Great Central Lake, but this 

 was probably fortuitous, as (lie species is in all probability of 

 general distribution over the island. A few were noted at Erring- 

 ton, during September, but not in any numbers. 



Although at the Golden Eagle Basin they were feeding almost 

 exclusively in the tree tops, at other points they frequented the 

 ground. Near Parksville they were frequently observed on the 

 beach, sometimes in the sand or gravel, or in the beach grass, and 

 sometimes feeding in the drifted kelp. At Errington some were 

 shot with their mouths filled with mud and sand, and at Beaver 

 Creek a small pile of gravel under the shelter of a barn on an 

 abandoned ranch, was an attraction that was visited daily by 

 crossbills. 



If Loxia curvirostra sitkensis Grinned (1909, p. 223) turns 

 out to be a recognizable form it will probably prove to be re- 

 stricted to southern Alaska, for I do not see how the Vancouver 

 Island crossbill can with certainty be distinguished from birds 

 from eastern North America. 



The expedition collected ninety-two specimens (nos. 15884— 

 15975), of which fifty-seven are adult males, twenty-two adult 

 females, and thirteen juvenals. Of the old males about one-half 

 are rather brilliantly red. quite as much so as those from eastern 

 points. The others are variously greenish-yellow, orange, or 



