Mar., 1901 I 
THK CONDOR 
41 
stub and in two cases with only a tiny 
jutting piece of bark for support or a 
slight depression caused by a wound in 
the tree. 
To this there was one exception. One 
pair, whose nest against the side of a 
large pine I had watched from the date 
of its beginning to the day the female 
laid her last egg in it, climbing almost 
daily up to inspect it, sometimes touch- 
ing her with my finger ere she would 
leave it, decided that such a location 
was too convenient for me, and built 
their next nest where I had to bring into 
requisition a loo-foot rope in order to 
look into it, where it was located far 
out on the limb of a large fir. 
The reason for the uniformly different 
nesting sites in the two localities is 
doubtless one of expediency, and may 
be owing to the fact that in the lower 
locality where they are all built out on 
the branches, lizards are plentiful, while 
in the upper mountain, where they all 
select the tree trunks, there are no liz- 
ards to be seen, and the jays are much 
more plentiful than below; and the little 
nests of the hue of the tree bark, and 
in fifty per cent of the cases close in 
below a protecting stub, were not notice- 
able from above, nor easily from any- 
where. One nest that I saw building 
was made almost exactly the shade of 
the bark of the dead pine against which 
it was built, by using plentifully of the 
weather-beaten remains of an old robin’s 
nest in a tree close by. Of all the sets 
of eggs of this species recorded to date, 
as nearly as I can remember those of 
Messrs. Howard and Willard, taken in 
the Huachuca Mts., about 50 per cent 
have consisted of three eggs each, 30 
per cent of four eggs, and 20 per cent 
of two eggs. 
w w ® 
We note with pleasure that our interesting 
contemporary. The Joiir 7 ial of the Maine 
^lithological Society, will be published as a bi- 
monthly commencing with its third volume, 
instead of a quarterly as heretofore. J. Merton 
Swain is announced as editor for 1901. 
Note on the Name of the Black-headed 
Grosbeak. 
The Pacific Coast grosbeak described 
in the November number of this maga- 
zine was previously named Hedymeles 
capitalis with the following description, 
probably overlooked by Grinnell. 
If the characterization given by Baird 
be considered sufficient by those versed 
in questions of synonymy, then the 
western subspecies should be known as 
Zainelodia melanocephala capitalis (Baird) 
as Z. microrhyncha and H. capitalis evi- 
dently refer to the same bird. 
“Taking the series from eastern Mex- 
ico (Orizaba and Mirador) and north- 
ward along the Rocky Mountains of the 
United States, we find the black of the 
head continuous, sharply defined by a 
gently curved outline behind, and with- 
out a trace of either the vertex or post- 
ocular stripes. This is the true vielano- 
cepliabis as restricted and may be re- 
garded as the Rocky Mountain form. 
The most western specimen is 11,241, 
from Fort Bridger; the most northern 
19.355. from Stinking River, Northern 
Wyoming. All specimens from the 
Pacific Coast eastward to the Western 
base of the Rocky Mountains, including 
Cape St. Lucas and Western Mexico 
south to Colima differ from the Rocky 
Mountain series in having the posterior 
outline of the black hood ragged, and 
irregularly indented by the rufous of 
the nape, which always extends in a 
quite broad stripe toward the eye, along 
the side of the occiput, and quite fre- 
quently forms a conspicuous median 
vertex stripe, though the latter feature 
is sometimes not distinct. These differ- 
ences are observable only in the males, 
and although slight, are yet sufficiently 
constant to justify distinguishing them 
as races. The Rocky Mountain form 
being the true melanocephalus, the 
name capitalis is proposed for the 
western one.’’ (Hist. N. A. Bds., Ld. 
Bds., II, 7^.) 
Richard C. McGregor, 
San Francisco. 
