82 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



[No. 7. 



of Owens River in August. At Horse Corral Meadows a noisy flock 

 passed our camp August 12. Mr. Bailey saw the species at Whitney 

 Meadows, and it was heard at Soda Springs or Kern River Lakes, Sep- 

 tember 5. 



Record of specimens collected of Loxia curvirostra striclclandi. 



Col- 



lertor's 



No. 



Sex. 



Locality. 



Date. 



Collector. 



Remarks. 





? 





Aug. 20. 1801 

 Aug. 28, 1801 

 Aug. 22, 1801 



V. Bailey 



WhitneyMeadows. 





do . 





34 



..do 



15. H. Butcher .... 











Meadows. 



Leucosticte tephrocotis. Gray- crowned Leucosticfce. 



A very interesting discovery made by the expedition was that 

 the gray-crowned finch is a common summer resident in the higher 

 portions of the White Mountains and the Sierra Nevada in eastern and 

 southern California. The knowledge that this bird breeds as stated, 

 makes its distribution in relation to the other species of the genus a 

 little more clear. 



In the Rocky Mountain region Leucosticte atrata is the northern and 

 L. australis the southern representative, just as Leucosticte t. littoralis 

 is the northern race of L. tephrocotis of the more western range. 



Mr. Nelson found the gray crowned finch breeding abundantly on 

 the White Mountains, the only range except the Sierra Nevada on 

 which the species was seen. It was found above timber line about the 

 bases of the main peaks at an elevation from 3,350 to 3,650 meters 

 (11,000 to 12,000 feet). He found the birds easy of approach as they 

 were feeding on seeds and insects about the border of the melting- 

 snowdrifts. 



The warm west wind coming from over Owens Valley brought many 

 insects which became benumbed by the cold and fell on the snowdrifts. 

 These the birds devoured eagerly, and Mr. Nelson saw them pursue 

 and tear to pieces several grasshoppers on the surface of the snow. 

 The condition of the skin on the abdomen showed that they were 

 incubating and that both sexes shared in this labor. He noticed when 

 skinning the birds that they had a double craw. One located in the 

 usual place and the other in the form of a double gular sac divided by 

 a median constriction. The latter when full hangs down like a lobe of 

 bare skin outside of the feathers. 



In the Sierra Nevada the same observer saw the species about tim- 

 ber line at the head of Owens River on the eastern slope, and at the 

 same altitude on Kern, Kings, and Kaweah rivers on the western slope. 

 Mr. Stephens found it abundant about the lakes at the head of Inde- 

 X3endence Creek, where it was breeding June 18-23, and also saw three 

 above timber line at Menache Meadows, May 24-26. Mr. Butcher saw 

 several flocks and secured a few specimens at and above fiimber line at 



