64 University of California Publications in Zoology [Vol. 10 



This is a species that must have increased in numbers and 

 greatly extended its range on the island with the settlement of 

 the region. It was observed almost exclusively in the neighbor- 

 hood of civilization, in the brushy second growth on abandoned 

 clearings, in pastures, along the edges of fields, and in bushes by 

 the roadside. None was seen anywhere in the more dense forests, 

 or very far from human habitations. 



Thirty-five specimens were collected (nos. 16256-16290), of 

 which twenty are breeding adults, four in juvenal plumage, and 

 eight immatures and two adults in fresh fall plumage. An adult 

 female taken on September 5 is still in the old, abraded summer 

 plumage, having hardly begun to molt, though others shot at the 

 same time are in the fresh, winter plumage throughout. 



In the darkest colored males the white markings of the upper 

 parts are so reduced in size and number as to be hardly notice- 

 able ; the wing bars reduced to a row of small, disconnected spots, 

 and the scapular markings nearly hidden under the feathers. 



Zamelodia melanocephala (Swainson) 

 Black-headed Grosbeak- 

 Observed with certainty only in Alberni Valley, though it 

 may be supposed to occur throughout the southern and eastern 

 portion of the island. In the vicinity of our Beaver Creek camp, 

 during June, several were seen or heard singing at various times, 

 probably not more than eight or ten individuals being noted 

 altogether. They frequented the willow thickets along the 

 stream, where they were undoubtedly breeding. Three speci- 

 mens were secured at this point, two males and a female, all 

 breeding adults. They exhibit the same characters as Cali- 

 fornia examples of the species, rather than those of the Rocky 

 .Mountain birds, having the relatively small bill and, in the males, 

 the post-ocular stripe commonly found in the former. 



Piranga ludoviciana (Wilson) 

 Western Tanager 

 Met with at Alberni and in the adjacent Beaver Creek Valley 

 (lining June. They were not abundant, but were only occasion- 

 ally observed or heard singing in the tree tops. That the species 



