Nov., 1915 
FURTHER REMARKS UPON THE KERN RED-WING 
229 
given in the tables, this being caused by a larger proportion of the twelve being 
under rather than over the average before given, though none fell below the 
former minimum. On the other hand the average of the same measurement 
in the four females was greater than that of the eleven females given in the 
published tables, and the maximum was exceeded. Yet if the two lots had 
been combined the figures given before would be changed but very slightly. 
We know that the smaller the number of specimens measured in groups the 
more the measurements will vary, so this small deviation was to be expected. 
These birds were so scarce, and the area in which they were to be found 
apparently so limited, that it seemed a pity to destroy more than necessary, 
and what we obtained were enough to sustain the conclusions heretofore 
reached. Also if this form is as sparsely represented as it appears to be, it 
seemed unfair for one collector to make so great an inroad into its numbers 
as to endanger its existence. Hence our weapons were turned away and no 
more specimens collected. 
That the habitat of the Kern Red-wing is extremely limited seems, from 
our present knowledge, to be a reasonable conclusion, even though it is known 
to inhabit two districts rather widely separated topographically. The first 
place where it was found was the “Walker Basin”, which is a meadowlike 
valley of only a few thousand acres in extent, separated from the San Joaquin 
Valley by a range of mountains over four thousand feet high, its only outlet 
being by way of a narrow gorge through which the Walker Creek flows into 
the Kern River, whose bed is at the bottom of a narrow canyon for miles 
below the point of intersection. The marshy portion of the Walker Basin is so 
limited that but few individuals exist there. In fact we saw none at all while 
passing along the edge of this district, but van Rossem took some there in 
1914. 
As far as we know, the next, and only other, spot where these birds are to 
be found is on the South Fork of the Kern River, some four or five miles 
above its junction with the North Fork, twenty-five or thirty miles farther 
inland than the Walker Basin and separated from it by two fairly high ranges 
of mountains, the river itself being probably at an elevation at this point of 
some 3000 feet. Here the narrow valley opens out a bit, to half a mile or more 
in width, with “fans” covered with desert vegetation running up into the 
steep canyons that cut into the masses of shattered rock which constitute the 
mountains on either side. In the comparatively level bottom are small marshy 
spots and lagunas where bunches of tules or cat-tails grow, while in places 
water has been brought in from the river and alfalfa or barley is grown. 
We found the red-wings mostly in the lagunas, or near them, though some 
were seen among the hundreds of Brewer Blackbirds ( Euphagus cyanoce- 
phalus ) which were following the water as it spread over the fields and feast- 
ing on the insects among the alfalfa. The red-wings were usually in small 
groups or colonies, and far from numerous. In fact we came across but few 
spots they seemed to favor by their presence. This irrigated strip extends 
some eight or ten miles up the river to where the valley contracts again and it 
seems to be the only likely locality in which to expect these birds in all that 
neighborhood. Inquiry among the ranchers and stockmen living in the valley, 
the passers-by, and even the Indians who are quite numerous there, elicited 
no information as to any conditions conducive to the presence of red-wings 
up or down either of the forks of the Kern River, and all who claimed to know 
