60 University of California Publications in Zoology [Vol.10 



Winter specimens of shufcldti from southern Arizona, aside 

 from the color differences distinguishing them from the series 

 under discussion, are appreciably larger, or at least have con- 

 siderably longer wings. There is no size difference between the 

 Alaska and Vancouver Island birds. 



It seems more reasonable to regard as shufeldti (a pale colored 

 bird with a long wing) the form inhabiting the more arid interior 

 of British Columbia, forced by the severe winter climate to 

 migrate far southward ; and as oreganus the breeding bird of the 

 humid coast region, south to include Vancouver Island. 



This is the course adopted by Mr. Frank M. Chapman in his 

 treatment of the juncos contained in the collection of British 

 Columbia birds reported upon by him (1890, pp. 145-146) ; and 

 it is certainly to be expected that the junco of this coast region 

 should be more nearly like the southern Alaska race, climatic and 

 environmental conditions being so nearly similar, than that it 

 should resemble the bird from the widely different interior of 

 British Columbia. 



Melospiza melodia rufina (Bonaparte) 

 Rusty Song Sparrow- 

 Abundant everywhere except in the high mountains. The 

 numerous water courses, lakes and swamps, with the profusion 

 of sheltering underbrush, both characteristic of Vancouver 

 Island, provide ideal surroundings for song sparrows, and we 

 found them in numbers at almost every point visited. At 

 Parksville, the last week in April and early in May, females were 

 taken which contained eggs nearly ready to be laid, and at the 

 Little Qualicum River, a nest built in a rose-bush was found on 

 May 11, with three small young. Another nest with young, 

 possibly a second brood, was found at Beaver Creek a month 

 later, June 12. Young birds taken at Nootka Sound during the 

 last week in July are just beginning the post-juvenal molt ; those 

 taken at Errington, in September, are, with the exception of one 

 or two shot early in the month and still showing traces of the 

 juvenal plumage, in complete first winter plumage. 



Adults taken at Nootka between July 24 and August 11 are 

 mostly in the midst of the annual molt. One or two, in exceed- 



