14 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XVI 
The wing and tail measurements of aciculatus indicate greater length than 
any other United States form, but the plumage was so badly worn and abraded 
at the late date at which the specimens were collected — last of May and first 
of June — that they are not of sufficiently definite value in the determination 
of comparative size. The greater size of aciculatus seems to be more a matter 
of length of actual body than of comparative length of bill and tail. 
As far as coloration and markings are concerned this form seems to be 
between neutralis and nevadensis, both racially and geographically, and ap- 
pears to have been developed by some unknown factor in the small area it 
must occupy among the foothills of the southern Sierra. Specimens of Agelaius 
taken at Buena Avista Lake, thirty or forty miles west of this area, and across 
the plains, are indistinguishable from the general run of neutralis, while the 
form on the east is sonoriensis, and that on the northeast is Grinnell ’s new form, 
nevadensis. 
The average and the maximum measurements of the culmen (from base) 
and of the middle toe (without claw) of both male and female aciculatus are 
greater than any similar measurements given by Mr. Ridgway in his Birds of 
North and. Middle America for any subspecific form of Agelaius, as well as 
Fig. 9. 
a. Agelaius p. neutralis, $ ad., no. 7508, coll. .T. & J. W. Mailliard; culmen from base 
23.2 mm., depth of bill 13.6, width of bill 10.0. 
b. Agelaius p. nevadensis. $ ad., no. 8806, Mus. Vert. Zool.; culmen from base 23.6, 
depth of bill 11.7, width of bill 9.7. 
c. Agelaius p. aciculatus. type, $ ad., no. 7593, coll. J. & J. W. Mailliard; culmen from 
base 27.6, depth of bill 12.7, width of bill 9.6. 
d. Agelaius p. neutralis, $ ad., no. 7520, coll. J. & J. W. Mailliard; culmen from 
base 20.4, depth of bill 10.1, width of bill 8.0. 
e. Agelaius p. nevadensis. ? ad., no. 8807, Mus. Vert. Zool.; culmen from base 20.6, 
depth of bill 8.9, width of bill 7.5. 
f. Agelaius p. aciculatus. cotype, $ ad., no. 7594, coll. J. & J. W. Mailliard; culmen 
from base 23.1, depth of bill 10.3, width of bill 8.3. 
Note: The individuals were selected for the above drawings as being nearest to the 
average measurements of the forms designated. 
