90 THE CONDOR Vol. XX 



condition that the plumage has lost its color values. A few fresh new feathers, 

 however, show among the primary wing coverts and on the alula ; and so far as 

 these go they indicate a coloration of adult annual plumage just like that of the 

 first annual. 



In an examination of hundreds of specimens of Hermit Thrushes from 

 throughout the United States elsewhere than from the White Mountains, the 

 writer has been unable to find one referable to the race polionota. It would seem 

 that this subspecies, like some other migratory birds of the high mountains of the 

 southwest, goes south in the fall to, and back again in the spring from, some far 

 southern winter home without touching the lowlands within hundreds of miles of 

 its restricted summer habitat. 



The entire series of fourteen White Mountains Hermit Thrushes Avas se- 

 cured through the energetic efforts of Mr. Halsted G. White, field assistant 

 during the summer of 1917. 



LIST AND MEASUREMENTS (IN MILLIMETERS) OF SPECIMENS OF HYLOCICHLA 

 GUTTATA POLIONOTA COLLECTED IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS, MONO 

 AND INYO COUNTIES, CALIFORNIA, IN 1917 



No. 



Sex 



Date 



Wing 



Tail 



Exposed 

 culmen 



Tarsus 



28838 



Siv. 



July 31 



96.6 



71.2 



12.9 



28.8 



28840 



Siv. 



July 31 



99.5 



73.0 



12.2 



29.1 



28842 



Siv. 



Aug. 1 



95.3 



72.0 



11.7 



29.8 



28843 



Siv. 



Aug. 1 



101.6 



76.8 





30.1 



28844 



Sad. 1 



Aug. 3 



97.5 



73.0 



14.3 



31.2 



28845 



Sad. 1 



Aug. 3 



99.2 



77.3 



13.3 



28.8 



28846 



Siv. 



Aug. 3 



98.6 



74.6 



13.1 



30.5 



28847 



Siv. 



Aug. 3 



101.3 



77.3 



12.9 



30.7 



28848 



Sim. 2 



Aug. 18 



96.9 



73.0 



12.4 



29.7 



28849 



Sim. 



Aug. 18 



97.5 



69.7 



12.1 



28.8 



28850 



$im. 



Aug. 18 



98.2 



72.8 



12.4 



30.4 



28851 



Sim. 



Aug. 18 



101.1 



74.7 



12.1 



30.3 



28839 



9 jv. 



July 31 



92.6 



67.0 





28.9 



28841 



Sjv. 



Aug. 1 



96.5 



71.5 



11.7 



29.7 



iBadly 



worn. 









2 Type. 



Berkeley, California, December 27, 1917. 



FROM FIELD AND STUDY 



Observations in a Swallow Colony. — The sea-wall a few miles from Oceanside in 

 San Diego County rises abruptly from a very narrow beach and varies in height from 

 twenty-five to one hundred feet. The materials forming this bluff are in horizontal lay- 

 ers, of clay, cobble-stone, sandstone, and shells, interspersed in a few places with solid 

 masses of very hard rock. 



In one of the sandstone strata a colony of Bank Swallows (Riparia riparia) have 

 established their "cliff dwellings". Rising sharply from the beach, this layer of compact 

 sand is nowhere over fifteen feet in thickness, while topping it is a stratum of cobble- 

 stone and clay. That this cliff has been the home of many generations of swallows is 

 very certain, as there are hundreds of abandoned tunnels and nests. Each year as the 

 face of the wall is eroded and crumbles away the tiny tunnels are excavated a few inches 

 deeper, and the new nest built at the very end. 



No tunnels were found to exceed three feet in depth while the most of those exam- 

 ined were just the length of one's arm. In nearly every case it was an old tunnel that 

 was being used, and as many as four or five old nests could be found buried along the 

 passage. Building material used was a fine dark brown, grassy sea-weed, gathered from 



