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July, t9oo I . THE CONDOR 85 feet high. Its appearance differs great- ly from that of americanus, as it closely resembles a round basket, having a very slight projecting rim of sticks. The av- erage rim of projecting sticks in a series of americanus I have found to be 9.78 inches, while that of eaufinns is only a trifle over 4 inches. The inner dimen- sions average about 7 inches in diame- ter by 4 inches in depth. The compo- sition also is nearly the same, only the material used is much less coarse, being a foundation of fine sticks and mud, lined with cedar bark. Fresh eggs may be found from the middle of April to the'middle of May, four or five being the number always constituting a complete set. In color they are indistinguishable from eggs of the American Crow, being. subject to about the same variation, and the size also is about the stone. Those in my collection average /.6?x?.? 5 inches, the lhe Intermediate Wren-tit BX- ' JOSEPH he Wren-tit ( ?7tamcra ICasct'ala Gambel) is a peculiar spSeies in having its habitat restricted ahnost wholly to California. True it extends a few miles into I, ower California on the south, and into the coast district of Oregon on the north, still the extremes in its geographic variation are undoubt- edly to be found within the liinits of California. The Wren-tit, as far as my experience goes, is a lmrely resident species. In fact, it does not even wan- der locally to such an extent as such resident birds, so considered, as the Song Sparrows. It is therefore not sur- prising to find the Wren~tit following the usual condition in resident species of this region, and varying from a pale form in the south and interior to a dark colored race in the northern coast dis- trict. Parallel geographic variation is exhibited throughout the same range by 7'h?7,omanes, Otocoris, .;feloslSiza, Pt)Oilo and Jtmco. largest measuring 1.72xi. I8 inches, the smallest 1.5ixt.i 3 inches. The bird clings very closely to the nest, never leaving ,until nearly reached by the climber. This is due, I think, to its natural tameness, as it then flies to a neighboring tree where very little complaint is made. Generally it is joined by two or three others who ap- pear to discuss the matter in low tones. At the approach of winter they gather into small flocks of from six to forty, at which period they are more inclined to shyness than at any other season. The call notes are much the same as those of americanus, but the "caw" is not, in my opinion, nearly so harsh and the birds are much more fond of talking to themselves. This they do in a soft, throaty tone that is really very fascin- ating, scenting to be a criticism of ev- erything in general and nothing in particular. GRINNELL W. H. ()sgood in the "Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington," Vol. XIII, pp. 4?-42, has given the subspecific namephrea to the extreme northern form, extreme not only in habitat but in the darkness of its color-' ation. He is undoubtedly right in as- signing the type locality of fasciala to Southern Califi)rnia, though after looking up Gambel's descriptions and subsequent remarks, I should place it in the vicinity of Los Angeles, rather than in San Bernardino County. Thus the two extremes of variation are subspecifically recognized. Yet be- tween these extremes there certainly 'exists an unbroken gradation from one to the other. As Mr. Osgood states, specimens front the vicinity of San Francisco Bay are of an intermediate character, and moreover they are dis- tinct from either C. )5 pha'a or C. f. fasciata. Now, trinomial nomenclature is simply a convenient means of recog-