THE CONDOR 
Vol. XV 
7 (> 
pace. While exces.sively fond of the wilds, he enjoys a boon companion and 
dislikes absolute solitude, especially that of the lonely bivouac. 
A keen sportsman and a crack shot, Brooks knows guns as a pianist knows 
his keyboard. He has killed every kind of big game in British Columbia save 
Cougars, which have curiously enough eluded him, and the walls of his lodge on 
the shores of Okanagan Lake are covered with trophies. He is also ‘deftenant” in 
the Canadian Militia and instructor in rifle shooting. One shudders to think how 
our arti.st might have been a mere globe-trotting game-killer, or even a dapper 
officer in the English army, a cock among guinea-fowls, if the scientific instincts 
had been less carefully schooled, or if the seeds of the ornithophilic passion had 
not found early lodgment in prepared soil. Artist, bird-lover, scientist, sports- 
man, explorer, genial host, and loyal friend — this is a very pleasant combination : 
and that it is embodied in a single unassuming personality, and a highly efficient 
one, is a matter of sincerest congratulation to those who know Allan Brooks. 
It is to him we look with confidence for a series of bird paintings, the most 
elaborate and beautiful which have ever been produced in America. 
LEUCOSriCTE TEPHROCOTIS DAWSON 1— A NEW RACE 
OE ROBY EINCH EROM THE SIERRA NEVADA 
By JOSEPH GRINNELL 
(Contribution from the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology of the University of California) 
W HEN judiciously employed, “geographical reasoning” proves of positive 
help in guiding the student towards the ascertainment of the results of 
speciation. Experience has. taught us to expect that geographic dif- 
ferences of great or less degree are to be found in any animal of wide range, 
particularly if this range includes two or more areas each of which has marked 
faunal peculiarities. In other words, we are often able to anticipate the existence 
of a distinct new race of animal in a given region, on the basis of our knowledge 
of other animals in the same region, without ever having seen a specimen. 
In spite of fref|uent aspersive comment directed towards those who have 
employed it, this is a perfectly good application of inferential reasoning. Need- 
less to say, however, only the establishment of the concrete facts in the case, 
based upon conscientious .study of actual .specimens, can be regarded as adequate 
grounds for publishing a new name. 
For many years students of North American birds have known that a certain 
.species of Rosy Finch [Lcucostictc fephrocofis) existed both on the high moun- 
tains of east-central California and on the northern Rocky Mountains of British 
America, even to eastern Alaska. But, notwithstanding critical attention from 
several keen systematists, no differences deemed worthy of separate naming have 
been published. In fact, this species of Ecucosticte has been remarked upon as 
a Fringillid of relatively great range, and yet one in which geographic variation 
is notably lacking. 
The present writer believes these conclusions to have been faulty, due in 
major part to lack of sufficient series of specimens in the various seasonal and 
age plumages. For he is now so fortunate as to have at his disposal for study 
the practically ideal material indicated beyond, and this study leads to an opposite 
view. 
