122 University of California Publications in Zoology [Vol. 21 



on the British Columbia-Alberta boundary, and one from Thudade 

 Lake, British Columbia. The subspecies is described {loc. cit.) as 

 "Similar to Passerella iliaca schistacea, but middle of the back mars 

 brown instead of mouse gray; wings and tail with more red in the 

 brown (near burnt umber)." Of some additional specimens, migrants 

 and winter birds, Riley remarks that "from typical Passerella iliaca 

 schistacea, to which they have been referred, they are quite distinct, 

 having the mouse gray of the upper parts of that race replaced by 

 broccoli brown and burnt umber and the spotting of the under parts 

 prout's brown, not sepia. Apparently there is no difference in size." 



The A. 0. U. Committee (1912, p. 386) denied recognition to this 

 subspecies on the ground that it was "too near P. i. schistacea." The 

 form was recognized by Grinnell (1915, p. 130), and some years later 

 Oberholser (1918, p. 186) reasserted the validity of oltivagcins, affirm- 

 ing its near relationship to iliaca, and its unlikeness to any other race. 



Most of Riley 's type series has been available for the present study. 

 The three birds collected by him (in July) and described {loc. cit.) 

 as "nearly adult" or "slightly immature," are, speaking more exactly, 

 molting from juvenal into first winter plumage. The type specimen 

 has reached the most advanced stage in the change, but all three still 

 show large tracts of juvenal feathers. However, there is enough of 

 the new plumage in place to aiford a fair basis for comparison with 

 full feathered migrants from points farther south, and thus to estab- 

 lish with fair certainty the color characters of altivagans in its typical 

 form. A specimen in fresh fall plumage (no. 26039, Mus. Vert. Zool.), 

 selected for its close resemblance in comparable parts with the molting 

 type of altivagans, is colored as follows : Upper parts generally 

 mummy brown, most ruddy on dorsum, dullest on rump. Feathers 

 of dorsum with dark centers, giving an obscurely streaked effect. 

 Sides of neck washed with grayish. Upper tail coverts auburn, with 

 narrow edgings of paler brown ; exposed portion of rectrices auburn. 

 Under parts white, chin, throat and abdomen nearly immaculate, else- 

 where marked with triangular spots, varying in color from some the 

 same shade as the back, to others suffused with blackish. Exposed 

 portion of wing coverts and remiges auburn, like tail. Median and 

 greater wing coverts slightly tipped with whitish, forming two ill- 

 defined bars. 



The above described specimen is an average fall-plumaged example 

 of this subspecies, though there are others at hand showing diverse 

 extremes of dorsal coloration, of grayish or of reddish. Specimens 



