BREWSTER: BIRDS OF THE CAPE REGION, LOWER CALIFORNIA. 161 
way, Hist. N. Amer. Birds, II. 1874, 87, part, pl. 29, fig. 10 (breeding at Cape 
St. Lucas; crit.). Satvin and Gopmay, Biol. Centr.-Amer., Aves, I. 1886, 
361, 362, part (breeding at Cape St. Lucas, May 5). 
Passerina versicolor (not Spiza versicolor BONAPARTE) BreLpiNnG, Proc. U. 8. Nat. 
Mus., V. 1883, 546 (San José del Cabo). 
P [asserina] versicolor pulchra Ripaway, Man. N. Amer. Birds, 1887, 448 (orig. 
descr.; type from Miraflores). 
Passerina versicolor pulchra Bryant, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., 2d ser., II. 1889, 305 
(Cape St. Lucas; Miraflores). ‘ 
Although this form has been lately given up by its original describer, Mr. 
Ridgway,! I consider it a perfectly good subspecies. Not only do the males 
in the large series before me exhibit, with remarkable constancy, the characters 
which serve to distinguish them from the males of vers¢color, but the females, 
also, differ considerably in color, as well as in proportions, from those of the 
race just named, the female of pulchra being decidedly the yrayer of the two, 
especially on the under parts and on the sides of the head and neck. Mr. 
Ridgway admits that ‘‘ were it not for the intermediate character of specimens 
from western Mexico it would be comparatively easy to characterize a sub- 
species, C. versicolor pulchra, for the Lower California bird.” I fail to see, 
however, why the fact that an intermediate region furnishes more or less 
intermediate specimens should affect the status of the forms in question to a 
greater degree than that of showing that they are not specifically distinct. 
Winter plumage: — Adult male (No. 16,355, San José del Cabo, October 8, 
1887). With the blue of the rump less purplish than in spring; the purple of 
the under parts deeper and duller ; the ‘nner secondaries, wing coverts and 
feathers of the crown, nape, back, rump, and entire under parts (excepting 
the chin) more or less broadly tipped with brownish olive, this tipping heaviest 
on the back, where it almost wholly conceals the purplish beneath. Another 
specimen (No. 16,264, Triunfo, December 6, 1887) has the brown confined to 
the occiput, nape, back, wings, sides of the neck, jugulum, and sides of the 
body; the rump, forehead, crown, sides of the head, and middle part of the 
abdomen being nearly as purely colored as in spring. 
Young female (No. 16,359, Santiago, November 18, 1887). Above bister, 
the wings and tail ashy brown, the inner secondaries and greater and middle 
wing coverts edged and tipped with clayey brown ; beneath brownish clay 
color, deepest on the sides of the neck and body and across the breast, palest 
on the abdomen, anal region, and crissum. 
In the plumage just described the female of this species is exceedingly diffi- 
cult to separate from autumnal females of C. amoena. The latter, however, 
usually have the wings more bluish and the general coloring brighter and more 
ochraceous. Moreover, the difference in size, and especially in the size and 
shape of the bill, can usually be relied upon to distinguish the two forms. 
The collection contains no specimen of the yonng male in winter plumage, 
but it furnishes a dozen or more spring males in immature plumage. These 
1 Birds N. and Midd. Amer., pt. I. 1901, 592. 
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