98 THE CONDOR Vol. XVI ern California (as a producer of much de- sired and expensive eggs), and which filled four pages of Mr. Grihnell's San Bernardino report, has dwindled to a mere mention of four nondescripts caught during migration. "The collection includes four small flycatch- ers taken near Cabezon at the northern base of the mountains which we have, with some hesitation, placed in a different category from the breeding E. wrlghti of the higher eleva- tions". E. wrighti, on the basis of 36 speci- mens, is conceded to be the breeding bird of the San Jacinto Mountains. "Apparently 'nothing is known of the nesting habits of E. griseus, the published breeding ranges being mere general statements with no precise data to support them." There be those of us who know what a pang this acknowledgment costs the authors of the San Jacinto report, and precisely on this account we honor their scholarly integrity,--an integrity which de- pends first of all upon a willingness to face 'the facts. ? We have here renewed evidence of able, trustworthy' leadership, and we are prepared to give, henceforth, an even more implicit obedience to Grinnell and Swarth's taxonomic decrees.. ? ; Several interesting cases of overlapping or interpenetrating faun?e are brought to light; thus, Cactus Woodpecker, Dryobates scalaris cactophilus, a characteristic Colorado Desert form, is discovered at Vallevista at the Pa- cific base of the moutains. Wldle the Desert Quail (Lophortyat garnbeli) halts circum- spectly at the edge of the desert, the Valley Quail (L. californica vallicola) spills out of its chaparral and mingles freely with its con- geners. In general, the San Diegan Pacific species are more presuming than their kins- folk; for the Anthony Towhee, P. crissalis senicula, overlaps P. aberti, and P. m. megalony.% an Upper Sonoran specie s, coquettes with the open places. The most notable example of all, however, is furnished by the San Diego Song Sparrow, Melospi?a m. cooperi, which Messrs. Grinnell and Swarth found firmly established amid desert surroundings (albeit with local riparian as sociations) in lower Palm Canyon. These and similar occurrences among the mammals lead the authors to philosophize upon "The Behavior of Geographic Races on the Mar- gins of their Habitats". The conclusions reached are sound ones, and present fascinat- ing vistas of suggestion, but their adequate consideration is beyond our present space. An excellent table of comparisons between the boreal faunae of San Jacinto Peak and related mountain masses to the northwata ?s presented and certain conclusions reached which are stated in the form of laws. It will be, perhaps, of as great interest to those who do not have access to this paper, to compare the San Jacinto area broadly with the ?qan Bernardino Mountain district, already so carefully studied by Mr. Grinnell*. The pres- ent paper reports 169 species as against 139 for the San Bernardino area. Of these, 42 were not found at all in the San Bernardino Mountains; but/ when we have eliminated migrants, casuals, and species common to the desert base of both ranges, as well as those which, through lack of opportunity or com- pleteness of observation, rather than by rea- son of actual difference in geographical range, were not reported from the San Bernardino Range, we find only two species, Vireo vicinior and Polioptila californica, which do not venture north of the San Jacintos. On the other hand, although the San Ber- nardino list contains only 12 names which do not appear in the present list, 7 of these are significant as being those of species not known to breed as far south as the San Jacinto Range. They are: Otus flarnmeolus, Chordeiles virginianus hesperis, Amphispiza nevadensis canescens, Hylocichla guttata sequoiensis, Planesticus migratorius propin- quus, Sialia currucoides, and Myadestes tozm?- sendi. It is notable that four of these should be Upper Transition and Boreal Turdines, which thus find on the flanks of "Grayback", San Jacinto's elder and more favored brother, their southernmost Pacific breeding station. It is not impossible that the Townsend Soli- taire may yet be found on San Jacinto, but the remaining three are .certainly absent. This San Jacinto bird-book, as it deserves to be called, is a mine of information for the bird student, from whatever angle it is viewed. It is so good, that one who loves birds better than he does bird-skins cannot help wishing that half as many bird-skins might have served these insatiable scientists, so that there would have been time left to observe and to record more life-histories. It is not enough to say, "Let others do tt/at", for there are not in the West two other more gifted observers of birds than Messrs. Swartl) and Grinnell. Of Mr. Grinnell, especially, 1 cannot forbear to say that some of his re- cent biographical sketches evince a keenness of insight, and bring out a wealth of first- hand information which mark him as poten-- tially the foremost biographer of Western birds. We learn from this vohune that the authors took seventeen "specimens" of the Gray Vireo; yet I submit that the six-page biography is worth sixteen of them. Twenty- six specimens of the Black-thinned Sparrow
- "The Biota of the San Bernardino Mountains", by
JOSel?h Grinnell (Univ. Calif. Publ. Zool. vol. 5, December 31, 1908, PI?. 1-170, pls. 1-24).
