180 a OF FE CONOR tO as Vol. XXIII — 
brush it was difficult to see them or to get an idea of what subspecies they 
belonged to, and, most unfortunately, we had nothing smaller than rifles with 
which to collect any for identification. This was certainly a regular ‘‘wave’’ 
of migration; and in all my years of hunting and collecting at the old Rancho 
San Geronimo, only about five miles north of this spur of the mountain, with 
equally brushy areas and at about the same elevation, I had never encountered 
one lke it. 
But to return to Castle Springs: About the middle of the morning we had 
enough specimens to keep us busy for the rest of the day, so we returned to 
headquarters and went to work saving them, which took us until six o’clock 
in the evening. About that time a breeze came up and it commenced to cool 
off quite rapidly. The breeze soon developed into a howling gale and sleep was 
impossible that night in the tent-house we were occupying. 
A dense fog drove in with the gale and by morning everything was drip- 
ping, with the prospects anything but alluring for favorable observation. My 
brother had to return to his own home that day and the outlook for better 
weather was so poor that I decided to take advantage of his transportation 
facilities and drop down to Harbin Springs to see what was going on at a 
lower elevation, where the weather was apt to be more favorable for us. But 
the next day it commenced to rain and the bushes were too wet to work in. 
As soon as the weather permitted, we resumed our observation of fox sparrows 
in the surrounding brush, which was fairly well adapted to their needs. It 
seemed as if the rain should have made ideal scratching ground for these birds 
but, while we found a few there, they were not numerous, and even these be- 
came scarcer as the days went by. Soon they became so scarce that we con- 
cluded the ‘‘run’’ must be over and that it would not pay us to remain longer. 
Of the different individuals taken were many that were very difficult to 
place satisfactorily. At Glenbrook, September 23 and 24, the Yolla Bolly Fox 
Sparrow was the most numerous, comprising 60 per cent of the number se- 
cured, but at Castle Hot Springs, of those taken during the migratory wave of 
September 26, 1919, the percentage of this subspecies was 30. This sparrow 
was usually easily recognized, even in the brush, where not too dark to see it 
well, as its grayish back and light colored breast were quite conspicuous among 
the mere reddish or brownish races. Evidently this race begins to forsake its 
treeding ground long before harsh weather conditions compel it to do so, as 
thz comparatively low elevations at which it breeds in California—5000 to 
6000 fect—are not particularly cold nor subject to severe snow storms as early 
in the fall as the date at which we found it common. 
The greater number of the Unalaschcensis group, that is of the darker, 
more reddish, and more slender-billed races, which we secured are referable 
to the forms Valdez, Yakutat and Sooty Fox Sparrows (Passerella iliaca sinu- 
osa, annectens and fuliginosa, respectively), with a good deal of intergradation 
between, and the first two predominating in numbers; yet there were a good 
many individuals that we could not place. There were also one or two other 
races represented by a stray bird here and there. 
In order to ascertain if the wave of migration was an annual occurrence 
I went again to Castle Hot Springs in 1920, taking with me Mr. Chase Little- 
John as assistant. So as to be on the ground in plenty of time to observe the 
migration, should it occur, September 19 was the date selected for the com- 
