66 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XII 
Of the same size and shape as ordinary phoeniceus, with the same scarlet carpus, it 
only differs, in extreme cases, in not having this red bordered with tawny. This 
is produced by the restriction of the brownish yellow of the middle wing coverts 
(in phoeniceus occupying the whole length of these feathers) to the basal portion of 
the feathers, their projecting ends being black, and so failing to produce a tawny 
bordering to the red. But every imaginable stage is a matter of observation in 
different specimens, from one extreme to the other, * * 
In all this confusion of ideas and descriptions there seems to be a missing link, 
which, when discovered, should smooth out the discrepancies and show us the 
real status of this species, or at least help us to approach it. 
It has recently been my good fortune to come across a large breeding colony 
of Agelaius in central California — Stanislaus County — and to be able to take 
specimens from time to time from March to November. It happens that except for 
the habitat of A . g. californicus being given as extending into the San Joaquin 
Valley the whole interior valley land of California — a vast area — is "sidestepped”, 
as it were, in giving the habitat of Agelaius. This omission is due without doubt 
to a paucity of specimens from this region. The series of specimens we have 
obtained from Stanislaus County were taken not far from the real head of San 
Francisco Bay (Central Coast region) which is the dwelling place of typical A. g. 
californicus. But these specimens incline mostly to the south-of-Tehachapi form, 
which is described as A. phoeniceus ncutralis. Yet, while they conform in this 
way to the southern race — in size, color, habits, etc., with the exception of a thicker 
bill than any form given — the males have a decided and in most cases quite extensive 
black tipping to some or often even to all the feathers of the middle wing 
coverts during the breeding season, before the tips are badly abraded, and the 
females, as a rule, have the heavy streaking of the southern bird. Yet both male 
and female individuals have been taken there which are absolutely indistinguish- 
able from breeding specimens of A. g. californicus from the San Francisco 
Bay region and others which are also indistinguishable except for a slightly thicker 
bill. There is no reason why two species may not use a common breeding ground, 
it is true, but when one can obtain from the same flock individuals that are almost ty- 
pical of either species, and others that vary thru all intermediate grades of coloration, 
streakings, black or but little black on the middle wing coverts, and all dependable 
measurements thereof overlapping in both directions, it looks as if the missing link 
has been found — that gube motor is directly connected with phoeniceus and that A. 
gubernator californicus is rightly A. phoeniceus cali fornicus. 
Following are some tables of measurements of California birds: 
Col.J.&J.W.M. 
7032. 
Stanislaus Co., 
Cal. Apr. 24. 
Col.J.&J.W.M. 
7014. 
Stanislaus Co., 
Cal. Apr. 1. 
Col.J.&J.W.M. 
2472. • 
Marin Co., Cal. 
June 6. 
Col.J.&J.W.M. 
6968. 
Stanislaus Co., 
Cal. Mar. 11. 
Mils, of Vert. 
Zool. U. of C. 
693. 
Riverside Co., 
Cal. Mar. 31. 
U. S. Nat. Mus. 
South Carolina 
Feb. 24. 
Wing 
104.2 
104.0 
109.0 
108.5 
105. 1 
100.9 
Tail 
77.6 
76.8 
78.1 
82 2 
80.0 
76.2 
Culmen 
i9.5 
19.6 
19.0 
19.6 
19.8 
21.2 
Depth of bill 
lt.l 
11.5 
9.5 
10.9 
10.1 
11.0 
Width of bill at base 
9.1 
8.6 
8.2 
8.3 
8.2 
9.8 
Width of bill at 
middle of enlmen 
4.0 
4.0 
3.9 
4.0 
4.1 
3.9 
In the photograph of six females the specimens are arranged to show the grad- 
ation of the streaking on the under parts. Note that the two with least streaking 
