94 THE CONDOR Vol. X 



San Geronitno Notes. — While having a sort of home outing, as it were, among the firs on the 

 l)ack ranges of our ranch in the middle of September, 1906, with my brother, we noticed a number of 

 Townsend Warblers {Dendroica tozviisendi) , and found that quite a flock would come to feed 

 around our camp. Several specimens were taken. These warblers often have been noted, and 

 specimens taken, in winter and spring at San Geronimo, but all these heretofore have appeared 

 to be single stragglers or occasional visitants. On this occasion, however, it would seem to ap- 

 pear as if the line of fall migration had spread out toward the coast in our locality. 



On October 17, the first Yellow-headed Blackbirds {Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) I have 

 ever seen or heard of in Marin County were noted flying down the San Geronimo Valley. They 

 came close enough for me to see that they were either young males, or adult males already in 

 winter plumage. There is no reason why these birds should not cross thru our district, but the 

 fact remains that they do not do so, save on rare occasions. 



On October 28, 1906, the second Saw-whet Owl {Cryptoglaux acadicd) was seen. I endeav- 

 ored to add him to our collection by means of a stone, in the absence of other weapons, but my 

 acci:racy in this line seems to have lost something in the last thirty or forty years and he 

 escaped, by a miracle (?) . 



A Rock Wren {Salpinctes obsoletns) spent the winter of 1906-7 with us, living among the 

 rocks in a fill on the new railroad cut-off near our house. This little fellow became quite tame 

 and would let me approach to within a few feet of him before taking flight. I was in hopes that 

 he would find a mate and breed there, and so make a new breeding record for this valley; but in 

 early spring he took his departure and did not return last fall. This species has only been noted 

 as a straggler before this. 



Another specimen of White-throated Sparrow {Zonotrichia albicollis), a female, was taken here 

 on Dee. 11, 1907, and another of this species seen. California records of this bird are becoming 

 cpaite numerous. It must either have a poor bump of direction, or be somewhat absent-minded 

 when migrating. — JOSEPH Mailliard, San Francisco, California. 



Catalina Quail. — Thru the courtesy of Mr. Howard Wright, of Pasadena, I have had the 

 privilege of closely examining 16 more specimens of the Catalina Island Quail. Of these, ten are 

 males and six females. They were taken at Middle Ranch, Santa Catalina Island, February 1 to 

 4, 1908. The series bears oitt precisely the characters assigned to Lophortyx catalinensis in the 

 original description of that form, which was based on six skins from Avalon. (See Auk XXIII, 

 July 1906, pages 262-265. ) When compared with a series of the mainland vallicola the island 

 birds are distinguished by larger size, especially of the feet, broadness of terminal barring on the 

 posterior lower surface, and broadness of shaft-streaks on lower tail-coverts and flanks. An ad- 

 ditional character which shows up in the larger series is the averaging more intense and exten- 

 sive chestniit patch on the hind chest, in the male, of course. This does not seem to be due to the 

 different ' 'make" of the skins. An examination of individual variation in the two series shows that 

 any one character alone is not diagnostic of every single individual. For instance, a small-footed 

 island bird can be duplicated in that respect by an extra large-footed mainland bird. But at the 

 same time the barring and streaking of the former renders it easily recognizable. Then in the 

 matter of barring on the lower surface, a mainland female appears as heavily marked as the 

 average island female. But at the same time the former has a decidedly shorter wing and weaker 

 foot. It is therefore evident that there is a mergence of separate characters thru individual vari- 

 ation; and according to the criterion now apparently most popular, the island form would be 

 given a trinomial appellation. The binomial, however, appears to me most useful, as it signi- 

 fies complete isolation because of the intervention of a barrier.— J. Grinnell, Pasadena, 

 California. 



The Mountain Bluebird in Northern Arizona.— The suggestion of Austin Paul Smith 

 on page 50 of January Condor that the presence of Sialia arctica at Flagstaff, Arizona, in late 

 February and early March might indicate that they are residents, hardly warrants that inference. 

 The species reaches northern Colorado at about that time regularly in spring migration, spread- 

 ing rapidly along the foothills at about the altitude of Flagstaff and reaching timberline (11,000 

 feet) by the last of Rlarch. They have been known to reach an altitude of 9,000 feet as early as 

 February 23. Hence the Arizona record is not evidence one way or the other as to residence. 

 However, for other reasons, some ornithologists suspect that in this latitude some few of the birds 

 may remain in the mountains thru the winter, as in case of the robins.— Junius Henderson, 

 Boulder, Colorado. 



