172 



XATUEAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS IN ALASKA. 



The series of measurements will show the diflereuces in proportion upon which the races might 

 be based : 



PINICOLA ENDCLEATOE. 



Locality. 





Yukon and Mackenzie Rivers 



Do 



Largest nialft 



Largest femalo 



As the largest dimensious of the parts occur in diiferent hirds, 

 1 aggregate these in tho following list ta'fcen from the males . 



Smallest dimensions of the males are 



Largest dimensions of the feraalea 



Smallest dimensions of the females 



The largest specimen in the Smithsonian collection is from 



Montana, and measures 



A series from the Eastern States average 



A series from Alaska averaL;e 



The largest aggregate measurements from the Eastern Stales.. 



The smallest aggregate measurements from the Eastern States . 



The average of tlie ten examples from the Eastern States given 



above included an csample from Kacine, Wis., and another 



from the Ked Kiver of tho North. 



These two examples measure respectively 



And .ire intermediate between the east coast birds and those 

 from the Kocky Mountain region. Eliminating these two 

 specimens from" the Eastern States series, the average from 

 that region is as follows 



Specimens from Kadiak Island and Sitka, Alask.a, are identical, 



and .average as follows 



Maximum dimensions 



Minimum dimensions 



A male and female from Camp Harney, Oregon, are very much 

 like Kadiak birds in general appearance, and also in size as 

 shown by tho following measurements 



The Oregon birds differ from the Kadiak form in their larger 

 size, thus agreeing with the form found both north and south 

 in the Kocky Mountains. 

 The dimensions of a small series of European birds is shown 



below, all of which are from Sweden 



Largest measurements - 



Smallest measurements 



The largest bird in this series is a female. 



cf and 9 

 cfand 5 

 cT and 9 

 d and V 



cT 



cfand? 

 rfand 9 



9 



rf and V 



4.60 

 4.57 

 4.75 

 4.66 



4.75 

 4.60 

 4.70 

 4.40 



5.00 

 4.40 

 4.01 

 4.60 

 4.15 



4.35 

 4.75 



4.40 

 4.50 

 4.30 



4.58 

 4.50 



4.23 

 4.25 

 4.10 



Pyrrhula cassini (Baird). Cassin's Bullfinch. 



The presence of this bird, as a member of the North American fauna, rests solely upon the 

 capture of a specimen at Nulato, on the Middle Yukon, June 10, 1867, by Mr. W. H. Dall. In the 

 Transactions of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, wherein are recorded the results of tlie orni- 

 thological work done during this expedition, Professsor Baird describes this bird as a new species. 

 For some years thereafter nothing more was learned of it, but after a time there came a record 

 from the interior of Siberia, in the vicinity of Lake Baikal, where we uow kuow the bird is a rather 

 common resident, and a considerable number of specimens have been obtained from there. As 

 no additional specimens have been securetl in Alaska, notwithstanding the labors of several natural- 

 ists, we are forced to conclude that, strangely enough, the type-specimen of this species was an acci- 

 dental straggler, hundreds, if not thousands, of miles from its home. A record has been cited in 

 several instances of this bird's occurrence in Belgium, but I am informed by Dr. Stejneger that this 

 record was based upon a female specimen of the ordinary coccinea; hence the range of this hand- 

 some species is confined, so far as known, to Eastern Siberia, the occurrence of the single specimen 

 noted above in northern Alaska being, apparently, quite accidental. 



During my residence in Alaska I frequently described the bird to natives from Nulato, 

 and showed them a cut of it, and they declared, in repeated instances, that they knew the bird 

 and had found it nesting to the north of Nulato during tho si)ring time. This statement, however, 

 is very untrustworthy, as the natives very likely mistook it for the Pine Grosbeak or some other 

 bird. As still further indicating its scarcity in the Yukon region, I may mention that the bird 

 was carefully describetl to various fur traders and natives, and a large reward offered for its 



