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94 THE CONDOR Vol. XXIV 
ventional surroundings. One associates this species with tule marshes, or grain fields, 
and this bird seemed oddly out of place picking up refuse grain on a suburban street—— 
J. A. Munro, Okanagan Landing, British Columbia, November 26, 1921. 
The Occurrence of the Desert Horned Lark in Southern California.—A careful 
analysis of the mixed flocks of horned larks that range the deserts and lowlands of Cali- 
fornia in such abundance during the winter has brought to light certain interesting facts 
and record stations for Otocoris alpestris leucolaema. The winter range of this form 
is given in both the third edition of the A. O. U. Check-list, and also by Oberholser in 
his review of the genus (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 24, 1902, p. 821) as ‘“‘south to 
southeastern California’. But the most southern record station actually given by the 
latter authority is Keeler, Inyo County, California, in a section perhaps better referred 
to as east-central California, because of the transverse ranges that divide the state 
south of that point. 
The specimens listed below from the A. B. Howell and D. R. Dickey collections 
indicate a far more general distribution of the species throughout the southern portion 
of the state, in fail, winter, and spring, than had heretofore been suspected. Only the 
sea-coast proper seems to escape their invasion. The Fort Yuma birds have been pre- 
viously referred to (Condor, xvilI, 1915, p. 233), but we trust we may be pardoned for 
repeating the record here with a view to incorporating all available pertinent data. A 
list of record stations follows. 
Inyo County: Deep Spring Valley, 2 specimens, Sept. 20, and Sept. 26, 1921; Kee- 
ler, 1 specimen, Oct. 21, 1921. 
Kern County: Buena Vista Lake, 1 specimen, Sept. 16, 1921. 
San Bernardino County: Victorville, 4 specimens, Sept. 25, 1921; Newberry 
Spring, 1 specimen*, Dec. 8, 1917. 
Los Angeles County: Palmdale, several specimens, Jan. 5, 1921. 
Riverside County: 10 miles south of Ontario, several specimens, Dec. 3, 1919, and 
Dec. 11, 1920; Thermal, 1 specimen*, Jan. 27, 1918. 
Imperial County: 10 miles west of Kane Spring, 1 specimen, Oct. 15, 1921; vicin- 
ity of Fort Yuma, 3 specimens*, Jan. 28, 1913, and Jan. 29, 1921; sand dunes east of 
Holtville, 1 specimen, March 21, 1916. 
We are indebted to Mr. A. B. Howell for kindly allowing us to put on record the 
birds in his collection, which are starred in the above list, and to Dr. H. C. Oberholser 
for verifying the determinations of several of the more doubtful birds.—D. R. DIcKEY 
AND A. J. vAN RosseM, Pasadena, California, January 13, 1922. 
What Color are the Feet of the Western Gull?—In the last volume (part 8) of 
Ridgway’s Birds of North and Middle America, the color of the feet of the Western Gull 
is given as yellow in life. In Dr. Dwight’s recent description (Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., 
vol. 32, 1919, pp. 11-13) of the southern form of the Western Gull (Larus occidentalis 
livens) the color of the feet is given as “lemon yellow”. This Dr. Dwight now regards 
as an error on the part of the collector of the type specimen. In the fourth edition of 
Ridgway’s Manual of North American Birds the color of the feet is given as “flesh 
colored” (under description of Larus fuscus). This, I believe, is the invariable color 
in the adult. , 
What I want to know is: 1. Has any one seen a Western Gull with yellow feet? 
2. If not, where did the mistake (if it is a mistake) originate? When I first travelled 
south along the Pacific Coast in 1911 I was under the impression that this gull had yel- 
low feet, and was considerably surprised to find that among the hundreds of adults that 
I examined at close quarters in life nothing but flesh colored feet were in evidence. The 
full description of the soft parts as given by Ridgway in the Birds of North and Middle 
America (part 8, p. 610) is as follows: ‘Bill deep yellow, the mandible with a subter- 
minal lateral spot of red; iris brown; bare orbital ring vermilion red; legs and feet 
yellow (in life).’”’ Three spring adults collected by myself vary from this in every item 
except the color of the bill. They all agree in having the iris pale yellow or straw color, 
freckled with grayish; eyelid deep yellow, no trace of red; feet flesh colored; and claws 
dark brown. Can California observers supply data to settle this question? 
