156 University of California Puhlications in Zoology [Vol.21 



(no. 100358, Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., Ptarmigan Lake, near Laggan, 

 Alberta), is not appreciably different in coloration from the Nevada 

 birds. The Alberta specimens are short-tailed, as compared with those 

 farther south, this again being undoubtedly an approach toward 

 altivagans. 



Schistacea occurs in California as a migrant and winter visitant, 

 the specimens at hand indicating the occurrence of this subspecies over 

 a large part of the state, though it is not a common bird at any point. 

 The line of migration extends along the Sierra Nevada, with the main 

 winter home in California in the San Diego region. There are many 

 records from the Sierras extending from August to November, and 

 a lesser number during March and April. One individual from Mari- 

 posa County, November 29, might have been supposed to be in its 

 winter home, but Tyler (1913, p. 85), speaking of the occurrence of 

 this subspecies in the Fresno district (south of Mariposa County), 

 asserts that while some of the birds remain until December, they all 

 depart during this month, presumably for points still farther south. 



There is one winter bird (December 5) from the Piute Mountains, 

 at the southern extremity of the Sierra Nevada, while from the San 

 Diego region there are many specimens taken during December, Janu- 

 ary, and February. These winter birds are all from points west of 

 the divide that separates the Pacific slope from the desert, though 

 there is no reason to doubt that the subspecies winters also on the 

 desert slopes of these same mountains. The northernmost winter 

 specimen at hand from the coast region is from Nordhoff, Ventura 

 County, and there are many points of capture from that station south 

 practically to the Mexican boundary. The subspecies has not as yet 

 been reported from any of the islands off the coast of southern Cali- 

 fornia, nor from any locality north of Ventura County and west of 

 the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers. 



The earliest arrival in the fall is one taken at Blue Caiion, Placer 

 County, August 31, though others have been secured far to the south 

 of this but a few days later — at Cottonwood Lakes, 11,000 feet altitude, 

 Inyo County, September 3, and at Lytle Creek, San Bernardino 

 County, September 2. In Kings River Caiion, in 1916, slate-colored 

 fox sparrows were migrating in small numbers the middle of Septem- 

 ber, the first taken on September 12, though others, believed to be 

 of the same subspecies, had been seen on the 10th. A few days later, 

 at Horse Corral Meadow, a high ridge just south of the Canon, the 



