120 University of California Publications in Zoology [Vol. 21 



Winters mainly in the San Diego region and on the western slope of 

 the Sierra Nevada (see map, fig. M). 



Specimens examined. — 90 (see list, pp. 185-186). 



Distinguishing characters. — Of the Iliaca group (see p. 89). 

 Somewhat smaller than iliaca; size and proportions about as in the 

 subspecies of the Unalascheensis group (see table 4). Coloration more 

 subdued than in iliaca; rather brighter, with more strongly contrast- 

 ing reds and grays, than in any of the Unalascheensis group. 



Remarks. — While the breeding range of the Alberta fox sparrow 

 cannot yet be exactly defined, it may be said in general terms to be 

 in the interior of British Columbia and in the adjoining portion of 

 western Alberta. The breeding stations afforded by Riley's type series 

 are the Moose Pass region on the boundary line between British 

 Columbia and Alberta, and Thudade Lake, British Columbia. To 

 these I am now able to add Jasper Park, Alberta, and McGillvary 

 Creek, and Mt. McLean, Lillooet District, British Columbia. The 

 migration route, as indicated bj^ specimens at hand, would be through 

 the western part of the Great Basin, in a path whose width extends 

 from western Montana to central Oregon, and southwestwardly at 

 least as far as extreme southern California. The winter home appar- 

 ently lies almost entirely within the confines of California. There is 

 one specimen at hand (not typical, however) from Government Island, 

 near Portland, Oregon, taken December 15. In California the line 

 of migration seems to lie entirely east of the coast ranges. There 

 are no records from these mountains, nor even from the floor of the 

 Saeramento-San Joaquin Valley, immediately to the eastward, while 

 there are specimens, migrants, from many points the whole length of 

 the Sierra Nevada. 



In all probability, judging from the available data, the winter 

 metropolis of altivagans is in the western foothills of the southern 

 Sierra Nevada, perhaps as far north as Eldorado County, and in 

 southern California west from the eastern bases of the several moun- 

 tain ranges separating the desert and the Pacific slope, with sporadic 

 occurrences in the San Francisco Bay region. It may be that the 

 subspecies winters regularly in the coast ranges from San Francisco 

 Bay southward. There is but one specimen at hand from this region, 

 but there has been practically no winter collecting carried on there. 



As to dates of arrival and departure in California, a bird taken 

 September 22, at Horse Corral Meadow, in the Sierra Nevada of 

 Fresno County, is the earliest fall migrant, and a specimen from the 

 Sierras of Plumas County, ' ' alt. 4000 feet, ' ' April 24, is the latest in 



