Mar., 1918 NEW BIRDS FROM EAST-CENTRAL CALIFORNIA 89 



MEASUREMENTS (IN MILLIMETERS) OF TEN ADULT SPECIMENS OF SITTA 

 CAROLINENSIS TENUI8SIMA, FROM THE INYO REGION OF CALIFORNIA 



Mus. 

 No. 



Sex Locality 







5 



h 



as 

 Ho 





June 1 



91.3 



52.1 



21.7 



4.0 



July 13 



92.4 



50.5 



20.4 



3.9 



July 18 



89.5 



49.9 



20.0 



3.8 



July 25 



87.9 



44.8 



20.2 



3.7 



July 26 



86.8 



45.7 



20.0 



4.0 



Aug. 3 



89.4 



52.3 



21.0 



3.7 



Sept. 30 



89.3 



47.8 

 45.0 



20.0 

 20.0 



3.8 



July 18 



86.0 



3.8 



July 25 



87.1 



44.0 



20.3 



3.8 



July 30 



85.0 



43.2 



21.0 



4.0 



28716 $ Hanaupah Canyon, 8700 ft., Panamint Mts. 



28717 S Head of Silver Canyon, 9800 ft., White Mts. 



28718 $ Silver Canyon, 7000 ft., White Mts. 



28721 $ Big Prospector Mead., 10600 ft, White Mts. 

 28723 $ Big Prospector Mead., 10360 ft, White Mts. 

 28728 $ Poison Creek, 9800 ft., White Mts. 

 28736 $ 3 mi. E. Jackass Spr., 6200 ft., Panamint Mts. 



28719 $ Silver Canyon, 7000 ft, White Mts. 



28722 $ Big Prospector Mead., 10500 ft., White Mts. 

 28727 $ Big Prospector Mead., 10300 ft., White Mts. 



Hylocichla guttata polionota, new subspecies 

 White Mountains Hermit Thrush 



Type. — Male immature (passing from juvenal to first annual plumage, the 

 latter predominating) ; no. 28848, Mus. Vert. Zool. ; Wyman Creek at 8000 feet 

 altitude, east slope of White Mountains, in Inyo County, California ; August 18, 

 1917 ; collected by H. G. White; orig. no. 1305. 



Diagnostic characters (among the races of Hylocichla guttata, for general 

 definitions of which see Ridgway, Birds N. and Mid. Amer., pt. iv, 1907, pp. 35- 

 51). — Size large, between that of H. g. sequoiensis of the Sierra Nevada and of 

 H. g. auduboni of the Rocky Mountains, nearest the former. Color of top of head 

 and dorsum different from that in either of these races and, in fact, from that in 

 any previously known race of Hermit Thrush. The tone of this coloration is the 

 "olive-brown" of Ridgway (Color Standards and Color Nomenclature, 1912, pi. 

 40), and is close to that of the corresponding areas in the Olive-backed Thrush 

 (Hylocichla ustulata sivainsoni) ; it is if anything even more slaty. 



Measurements. — Average of 12 males, all from the White Mountains : Wing, 

 98.6 ; tail, 73.8 ; exposed culmen, 12.7 ; tarsus, 29.8. For extremes, see accom- 

 panying table. The specimens measured are all but two full-grown juvenals. As 

 regards wing and tail the dimensions of these young birds are, of course, perfect- 

 ly valid ; for there is no molt in the spring and the rectrices and remiges of the 

 same aged birds the next summer (then "adult") would be the same feathers, 

 only more or less badly abraded. The measurements of culmen and tarsus are, 

 however, less in these juvenals than in older (adult) birds, and this must be taken 

 into account in comparisons with summer adults. 



Range. — In summer, the Canadian and Hudsonian zones on the White 

 Mountains, in Mono and Inyo counties, California. Places of capture of our 14 

 specimens were as follows : Cottonwood Creek at 9000-9200 feet, 7 ; Poison Creek 

 at 9500-9900 feet, 3 ; Wyman Creek at 8000 feet, 4. 



Remarks. — The race sequoiensis, of the Sierra Nevada just across Owens Val- 

 ley to the west and in plain sight from the White Mountains, is ordinarily re- 

 ferred to as a pale-colored or even grayish-colored Hermit Thrush ; but compared 

 with polionota, the contrast in dorsal view is as of brown with slate-gray. The 

 resemblance of polionota to the Olive-backed Thrush is striking. 



The juvenal plumage of polionota is as distinctive in slaty tone of coloration 

 as is the first annual. The two breeding- "adults" in the series are in such worn 



