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Mar., 1910 STATUS OF THE CALIFORNIA BICOLORED BLACKBIRD 65 And this is all the distinction that there is to be found in the later manuals written and keys--especially those' ' for the Pacific Coast. There are so many shades of crimson to orange on the lesser wing coverts, and of buffy brown to buffy white on the middle coverts, that the color of these can hardly be considered as a matter of specific determination. In southern California we have the form described as A. phoeniceus neutral/s, the San. Diego Redwing. Let us turn to the description of this form. We will find that it is (Birds of N. & M. Am. p. 339,)--"similar to but smaller than A. p. sonoriensis;" but this form is similar to but larger than richmond/, which is similar to but slightly smaller than ?qoridanus, which is simi- lar to but slightly smaller than phoeniceus. Hence, when boiled down, as it were, A. p. neutralis is similar to (but smaller (?) or larger (?) than) A. p. phoeniceus. As this last form is described as having the "middle wing coverts wholly buff or ochraceous buff" it should follow that A. p. neutralis would have this same characteristic. Yet in the foot-note before mentioned is the proof that this charac- teristic is not constant in A. p. neutralis. Is not this a step toward the form called g?ubernator? As the measurements of grand/s, which is "similar to A. g. gubernator" over- lap some of the subspecific forms of phoeniceus, and as the description of grandis will apply equally well to many specimens of A. p. neutral/s, which the author has examined most critically, is not this a step toward pheniceus? And are not these steps so decidedly in each other's direction that there is every probability of their colliding with considerable force ? I will state here that we have in our collection (Coil. of J. & J. W. Mailliard, San Francisco, Calif.) several males of phoeniceus from Colorado, one from Massa- chusetts, and one--shown in the accompanying phdtograph--from South Carolina, loaned by the U. S. National Museum, which show more or less black on the inner- most coverts. The similarity of the two forms, phoeniceus and gubernator, has evidently been a stumbling block to every one who has endeavored to solve the questions in- volved, and several authorities in the past have called attentiou to this. For instance Spencer F. Baird, in the Report of the Pacific Railroad Survey, IX, 1858, p. 526, speaking of phoeniceus says: "The middle wing coverts are some- times uniform brownish to the very tips; sometimes some of these middle coverts are t/pt at the end with black, but these black tips are usually of slight extent." Again, /bid, p. 529, speaking of the male of A. gubernator (cal?fornicus) "the bases of the middle wing coverts are brownish yellow, but the exposed portion is black instead of being brownish yellow as in phoeniceus, or white as in tricolor. Sometimes, however, by the elongation of the yellowish basal portion, some of this color shows beyond the red, as in phoeniceus." And "It was at one time consid- ered that the female of gubernator was the darker, but there are 3 specimens be- fore me, (4598, 4599, 4600), which in the amount of light color beneath approxi- mate to A. phoeniceus." Then again, in "North American Birds", Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, Vol. II, p. 160, under A. phoeniceus, occurs the following: "The middle wing coverts are usually uniform brownish yellow to the very tips: sometimes some of these middle coverts are t/pt with black, but these black tips are usually of slight extent, and indicate immaturity, or else a transition of hybrid/sin or race to A. gubernator." Dr. Elliot Coues, in his "Birds of the Northwest", p. 187, goes further than any of the others, saying: "The so-called species, A. gubernator, has not the slightest claim to specific rank--in fact it can hardly be rated as a fair 'variety.