78 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XV 
xi jLiveiials (August), full-grown; ne\v feathers, of first winter plumage, 
showing in some. 
MRASURRMENTS — The accompanying table of measurements is self-explana- 
tory. It takes account of adults only, and in these care was taken to exclude 
examples obviously mutilated in respect to wing or tail feathers, or bill. A skin 
might have a perfect hill hut quills too badly worn to warrant even an approxi- 
mate dimension, and vice versa. Such a specimen is of course taken account ot 
in the respect in which it does afford fairly reliable data. A percentage of error 
must occur, but it is the writer’s belief that in taking the measurements he has 
erred as much on one side of the mean as on the other so that the relative size 
of the tw'o subspecies in each respect, as far as showm by the material in hand, is 
approximately correct . 
Table or Measurements (xn Mjiximeteks) 
Figure in parenthesis in each column opposite '‘average”, is the number of individuals 
measured in each case. 
Wing 
Tail 
Culmen 
Bill 
from 
Nostril 
Depth 
of 
Bill 
, ( Average 
106.0 (7) 
69.9 (7) 
11.5 (7) 
9.0 (7) 
7.8 (7) 
1 .Males ) Maximum 
107.3 
72.0 
12.3 
9.5 
8.4 
; , . .7 7- J ( ^Minimum 
104.8 
67.9 
11.1 
8.6 
7.5 
\ ( Average 
100.9 (7) 
66.2 (8) 
11.4 (8) 
8.8 (8) 
7.8 (8) 
f Females a Maximum 
104.2 
69.8 
12.0 
9.4 
8.4 
(_ Minimum 
97.6 
64.4 
10.8 
8.3 
7.4 
f .A.verage 
104.6 (17) 
70.4 (16) 
11.1 (18) 
8.6 (18) 
7.0 (18) 
( Males { ^Maximum 
107.6 
74.1 
11.7 
9.3 
7.2 
, , . 1 f Minimum 
101.3 
67.7 
10.6 
8.3 
6.7 
j ^ .Average 
99.8 (8) 
65.8(10) 
11.0 (11) 
8.6 (11) 
7.1 (10) 
f Females -) Maximum 
101.7 
68.1 
11.6 
9.1 
7.3 
I, Minimum 
98.1 
62.1 
10.6 
8.3 
6.9 
It is to be observed that in wdtig and tail length wdtatever difference exists 
is very slight, while in size of bill there is a notable difference amounting to from 
four to nine percent in favor of the northern race. Similar differences are shown 
in Ridgway's table of measurements of Lencosticte tephrocotis {Birds N. and 
Mid. Amcr., part i, 1901, p. 69). It would appear that as in many other birds of 
like distribution there is a tendency towards large size in the north. 
The interesting fact is here brought out that there is a pronounced greater 
frequency of a rounded type of wing in the Sierra Nevadan bird than with the 
northern bird (see accompanying table). True, the actual differences involved 
are slight, but they are, never-the-less, significant, the correlation being with the 
different amounts of migration undertaken in the two races annually. 
The outermost or ninth primary is longest in the majority of specimens of 
L. t. tephrocotis, the penult or eighth is next in length, the anti-penult or seventh 
is next in order; there being no variation in the succession of lengths of the rest 
of the primaries. In a plurality of specimens of L. t. dawsoni, the penult is long- 
est, the anti-penult second in length, the outermost third in length. The formula 
“9-8-7” indicates the sharpest wing, “7-8-9" the most rounded; “8’9-7’’ and 
“8-7-9” intermediate conditions, the former nearest the sharp extreme, the 
latter nearest the rounded extreme. 
