BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 



323 



(9.14); depth of bill at base (five specimens), 5.84-6.10 (5.97); tarsus, 

 18.03-19.81 (18.80); middle toe, 12.4.5-13.97 (13.21).^ 



Young. — Very similar to adult females without black on chin, etc., 

 but streaks on back narrower and less sharply defined, edges of wing- 

 coverts and tertials more rusty, and gray of under parts paler, the 

 chest nearly white, very indistinctly streaked with light gray. 



More southern portions of southwestern United States and southward 

 over Mexican plateau to States of Hidalgo (Irolo, Tula, Pachuca, etc.), 

 Tlaxcala (Huamantla), Puebla (Chapulco, Chalchicomula, Atlixco, etc.), 

 Mexico (City of Mexico), eastern Jalisco (Lagos), etc. ; north to southern 

 California (San Diego, San Bernardino, and Los Angeles counties), 

 Arizona (Fort Whipple, etc.), and southwestern New Mexico (Sierra 

 Hachita, etc.); Lower California, breeding in more northern portions, 

 south in winter to the cape district. 



S-lpinUea] atrogularis Cabanis, Mus. Hein., i, Apr., 1851, 133, footnote (Mexico). 

 [Spizella] atrogularis Sclatek and Salvin, Nom. Av. Neotr., 1873, 32. 

 Spizella atrogularis Eidgway, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., iii, Aug. 24, 1880, 179, 232. 

 Spizella atrigularis Baird, Eep. Pacific E. E. Surv., ix, 1858, 476 (Agua Nueva, 



Coahuila, Mexico) ; ed. 1860 (Birds N. Am.), atlas, pi. 55, fig. 1; Eep. U. S. 



and Mex. Bound Surv., ii, pt. ii, 1859, 16, pi. 17, fig. 1 (Agua Nueva) ; Cat. 



N. Am. Birds, 1859, no. 362.— Coues, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1866, 87 



' Thirteen specimens. 

 Specimens from southern California and Lower California appear to average smaller 

 than those from Mexico, and as a rule have the lores less decidedly black; but so far 

 as color-differences are concerned these seem too alight and inconstant to warrant 

 subdivision of the species. Average measurements of the series examined are as 

 follows: 



Should it eventually prove desirable to separate a Californian subspecies the name 

 Spizella atrogularis evura (Coues) may or may not be available; for, notwithstanding 

 citations of "Spizella evura Coues, Ibis, 1865, pp. 118, 164" would seem to indicate 

 that the name was first published there, reference to the volume cited shows that, 

 while the bird was really described on page 118, no name was given it on that 

 page nor any other! In 1866 (Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., p. 87) Dr. Coues gives the 

 name in the synonymy of S. atrogularis, not, however, as a new name, but as a syno- 

 nym of S. atrogularis, and cites the "Ibis" as above. The name has, therefore, a 

 very peculiar status, and, being essentially a nornen nudum, is probably not available 

 for the northwestern birds should it be found desirable to separate them. 



