ocT., 1899.] BIRDS. 123 
In September they were rarely observed on upper Squaw Creek, but 
September 18 a flock was seen near the head of Panther Creek. They 
were common in Mud Creek Canyon about the eud of July and begin- 
ning of August. On September 29 I visited the juniper forest in Shasta 
Valley, and was surprised to find there dozens of evening grosbeaks, 
and still larger numbers of Townsend solitaires, feeding on the fat berries 
of the junipers (Juniperus oecidentalis), At Sisson in September R. T. 
Fisher found flocks flying restlessly over the valley. 
When in the molt the extraordinary color combinations of the males 
surpass even those of the crossbills. 
76. Carpodacus cassini. Cassin Purple Finch. 
A common summer resident in the Canadian and Hudsonian zones. 
Specimens were collected in July and August at various points from 
Wagon Camp, in the lower edge of the Shasta firs, to timberline, at 
the upper limit of Pinus albicaulis; and during our circuit of the moun- 
tain near timberline July 22 to 25 the species was heard or seen every 
day. At our camp in the alpine hemlocks on upper Squaw Creek, it 
was common and tame, and in early August usually began singing 
about daylight. On August 5 I saw one singing in a small white-bark 
pine on a ridge east of Mud Creek Canyon at an altitude of 8,800 feet, 
far above continuous timberline. A flock, probably migrating, was ob- 
served at the head of Panther Creek September 18. 
77, Carpodacus mexicanus obscurus (McCall). House Finch. 
{= Carpodacus m. frontalis Auct].' 
Common at Sisson and in Shasta Valley, but not seen on the moua- 
tain, where it is replaced by the preceding species. At Ager Vernon 
Bailey found it breeding abundantly in old nests of Bullock orioles. 
7%. Loxia curvirostra bendirei Ridgway. Sierra Red Crossbill. 
Red crossbills are common on Shasta. Small flocks were heard 
nearly every day throughout the season and were frejuently seen to 
light in the tops of the high firs, both at Wagon Camp and Squaw 
Creek Camp, but they never came into camp to teed, and were rarely 
seen near by. One was killed at Sisson September 12 by R. T. Fisher, 
who found the species common there at that time, feeding in the tall 
pines and also on the garden sunflowers. Several killed by us near 
timberline lodged in the dense foliage of the alpine hemlocks. C. H. 
Townsend obtained three specimens on Shasta. The crossbill of Shasta 
is intermediate between the northern subspecies minor and the southern 
subspecies stricklandi. It is the same as the Fort Klamath form named 
by Ridgway as subspecies bendirei; and specimens collected near 
Mount Whitney in the southern High Sierra by the Death Valley 
expedition, though published as stricklandi,’ are practically indistin- 
' For change of name see Oberholser, Auk, XVI, p. 186, April, 189. 
2North Am. Fauna, No. 7, p. 81, 1893. 
