THE CONDOR 
Vol. XIV 
1 60 
nearly full grown. The female parent which was feeding them was also secured. 
“The crop and stomach of an adult contained the soft leaf ends of Finns 
iiiiirrayana and Abies magnifica, besides seeds and portions of various insects. 
“Unlike the Pine Grosbeak living in the far north, these birds probably find 
it unnecessary to migrate any great distance in winter. If the weather is too 
severe on the alpine summits, they can in a moment drop down into the deep 
canons which furrow the western flank of the Sierra, and find a temperate 
climate and abundance of food.” 
In a recent letter (August 2, 1912), Mr. Price advises that with the excep- 
tion of the fact that he has observed the bird in the summer time of various years 
since, he has no further notes than those already published. By reference it will 
be seen that Price does not include this species in his account of “Some Winter 
Birds of the High Sierras” (Condor, vi, p. 70), and in answer to my cjuestion 
he states that he has no winter record of the bird at all. Mr. Joseph Grinnell 
Fig. 63. UPPER PORTION OF THE FORNI ME.\DOW, ROOKING SOUTH; PHOTO 
TAKEN JUNE 11, 1911; COMPARE WITH FIG. 62 
informs me that as ornithologists living in the Sierran foothills have never re- 
corded the bird as a winter migrant or winter visitant and that as he found the 
Alaskan bird, P. c. alasccnsis, resident in the Kowak Valley, it can be quite 
safely assumed, by inference, that the Californian bird is likewise permanently 
resident in the Boreal zone of the Sierras. 
Price described the California Pine Grosbeak as a subspecies somewhat in 
opposition to the canons of the American Ornithologists union ; for he says “I 
have seen no examples of intergradation. However, these may be expected from 
the higher mountains northward.” Mr. Joseph Grinnell informs me that no 
birds have ever been recorded north of Placer County, except those of another 
form near Mount Baker, Washington, and in British Columbia. On account 
of there being no examples of intergradation ( due to the bird’s isolated habitat) 
and to sharply defined differences existing in shape of bill between this and 
