182 Uiiiversiijj of CaUfornia PttblieafioHs /u Zoologij. [Vol. 7 



the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, and the ^lailliard, ^lorcom, 

 Swarth and Grinnell collections. An element of error must be 

 taken into account in tabulating' specimens in private and 

 museum collections as to category of coloration. With the ordin- 

 ary collector in the field who scrutinizes the birds he shoots, any 

 bird presenting a peculiar appearance is selected for preserva- 

 tion. And, further, where specimens from collections are dis- 

 posed of by exchange or sale, it is, in my experience, the oddities 

 that are reserved for the owner's series. Hence it appears 

 probable that the real percentages of aberrantly colored linnets 

 to the normal type in California is much less than that indicated 

 in the table presented herewith. 



In the late winter of 1910 a series of twenty-three linnets 

 was collected in the Hawaiian Islands by INIiss Annie M. Alex- 

 ander, and was shortly afterwards presented by her to the Cali- 

 fornia Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. These specimens were 

 collected indiscriminately, with no realized intention of selecting 

 oddities. Thirteen of the specimens are of male birds, and 

 these, as soon as compared in the ^luseum, at once incited inquiry 

 because of their peculiar colors, not at all like those character- 

 izing the usual California linnet. 



The Hawaiian examples in question are listed herewith in a 

 table (II) arranged to show locality, date and color peculiari- 

 ties of each individual. In the other table (I) the color cate- 

 gories into which the Hawaiian birds fall, are presented pro- 

 portionally, along with those of 294 male linnets from different 

 faunal areas in the western United States. 



It is a conspicuous fact that in the California series the tints 

 (red, orange and yellow) are, considering stage of plumage 

 wear, each uniform, while in the Hawaiian series the tints 

 (orange, yellow) are somewhat variable. But all the Hawaiian 

 birds are off color. No two of the latter are precisely alike, 

 there being subtle and indescribable differences between any 

 two. This cannot be due to the effects of wear, either, as all the 

 specimens were taken within two months of one another, anil 

 toward the beginning of the nuptial period. 



It is further observable that in the yellow and orange types 

 the colored areas are least extensive; and in the reddest birds of 



