Part 3

=Penthestes gambeli abbreviatus=, new subspecies

Short-tailed Mountain Chickadee

Parus montanus, of authors, part.

Parus gambeli, of authors, part.

Penthestes gambeli, of authors, part.

Type locality.--Horse Creek, Siskiyou Mountains (near Seiad Valley P. O.), Siskiyou County, California. Type, male, no. 119 (orig. no., in coll. J. Grinnell); December 12, 1901; collected by Malcolm P. Anderson.

Diagnosis.--Tone of color on sides, flanks and back the same as in inyoensis, though not quite so pale, namely, in fresh plumage, cartridge buff. Tail (see figs. 2, 3) much shorter than in either gambeli or inyoensis; and bill averaging smaller than in any of the other three races.

Measurements.--Average of 14 males: Wing, 69.7 mm.; tail, 65.0; exposed culmen, 7.9; depth of bill at base, 3.8. For extremes, see accompanying table.

Range.--The higher mountains of central and northern California, southern Oregon (probably this subspecies), and northwestern[** sic] Nevada. Occurs west in northern California through the Siskiyou and Salmon mountains and to South Yolla Bolly Mountain and Mount Sanhedrin; and south in the Sierra Nevada to the vicinity of Mount Whitney. Specimens examined, 182, from the following localities:

California: Modoc County: Sugar Hill, 4; Warner Mts., 27. Siskiyou County: Mt. Shasta, 3; Jackson Lake, 5900 ft., 5; South Fork Salmon River, 5000 ft., 1; head of Rush Creek, 6400 ft., 2; Kangaroo Creek, 3; Castle Lake, 5400 ft., 1; Horse Creek, Siskiyou Mts., 11; Beswick, 1. Trinity County: head of Bear Creek, 6400 ft., 4; head of Grizzly Creek, 6000 ft., 6. Tehama County: near South Yolla Bolly Mt., 4. Mendocino County: near Castle Peak, 1; near Sanhedrin Mt., 4. Lassen County: Eagle Lake, 6. Plumas County: Meadow Valley, 1. Nevada County: Independence Lake, 3. Placer County: Summit, 1; Cisco, 6000 ft., 18; Blue Canyon, 4700-5000 ft., 12; Dutch Flat, 1. Eldorado County: Tahoe Valley, 2; Kyburz Station, 1. Mariposa County: vicinity of Yosemite Valley, 13. Mono County: Warren Fork of Leevining Creek, 9200 ft., 1; Williams Butte, 7500 ft., 1. Fresno County: Bullfrog Lake, 10,600 ft., 6. Inyo County (not typical): near Kearsarge Pass at 8500 ft., 1; Little Onion Valley, 7500 ft., near Kearsarge Pass, 1; Cottonwood Lakes, 11,000 ft., 7. Tulare County (not typical): Whitney Creek, 11,000 ft., 3; Whitney Meadows, 9800 ft., 14; Olancha Peak, 10,000 ft., 1.

Nevada: Pine Forest Mts., Humboldt County, 13.

=Penthestes gambeli baileyae= (Grinnell)

Bailey Mountain Chickadee

Parus montanus, of authors, part.

Parus gambeli, of authors, part.

Parus gambeli baileyae Grinnell (1908, p. 29).

Penthestes gambeli baileyae, American Ornithologists' Union Committee (1910, p. 351), part (?); and of authors.

Type locality.--Mount Wilson, 5500 feet altitude, San Gabriel Mountains, Los Angeles County, California. Type in coll. J. Grinnell.

Diagnosis.--Tone of coloration on sides, flanks and back distinctly plumbeous--more exactly, on sides and flanks the "smoke gray" of Ridgway (1912, pl. 46), and on back near the "mouse gray" of the same authority (pl. 51). The tail in this race is short as in abbrevialus, but the bill is long and heavy, averaging thicker through than in any of the other three races.

Measurements.--Average of 14 males: Wing, 70.0 mm.; tail, 65.4; exposed culmen, 8.5; depth of bill at base, 4.1. For extremes, see accompanying table.

Range.--Higher mountains of southern California, from the extreme southern Sierra Nevada in Tulare County, and the Santa Lucia Mountains in Monterey County, south to the Cuyamaca Mountains, San Diego County; also (probably this subspecies) in the San Pedro Martir Mountains, in northern Lower California. Specimens examined, 160, from the following localities, all in California:

Monterey County: Headwaters of Big Creek, 2. Ventura County: Mt. Pinos, 2. Kern County: Kiavah Mt., 7000 ft., near Walker Pass, 2. Tulare County (not typical): Taylor Meadow, 7000 ft., 8; Cannell Meadow, 7500 ft., 1; Pine Flat, 7500 ft., 1; Long Meadow, 7700 ft., 1; Sirretta Meadows, 9000 ft., 3; Trout Creek, 6000 ft., 10; near Trout Creek, 7500 ft., 2; Jackass Meadow, 7750 ft., 3; Troy Meadows, 8000 ft., 1. Los Angeles County: Mt. Wilson, 25; Buckhorn Canyon, near Mt. Waterman, 2; near Pasadena, 9 (vagrants); Verdugo, 1 (vagrant). San Bernardino County: near Cucamonga, 1; San Bernardino Mts., 35; Victorville, 3 (vagrants). Riverside County: San Jacinto Mts., 29; Thomas Mt., 1; Santa Rosa Mts., 10. Orange County: Santa Ana Mts., 3000 ft., 1 (vagrant?). San Diego County: Julian, 1; Cuyamaca Mts., 6.

General remarks.--In making use of the intrinsic color characters, which are important here in distinguishing subspecies, it is, of course, essential that the effects of extraneous factors be taken into account. Prolonged wear and fading evidently serve to weaken the intensity of the color tones, more especially the buffy ones. Then, too, chickadees seem peculiarly susceptible to discoloration by smoke, soot and charred wood; for example, our series from Cisco and Blue Canon, stations along the Central Pacific Railway over the Sierra Nevada, even though taken in September and October almost immediately after completion of the fall molt, are obviously more or less begrimed with soot. On the other hand, the autumn- and winter-taken series from the Yosemite region and from the Siskiyou Mountains are clean, and show their intrinsic color tones to good advantage.

Intergradation undoubtedly connects the four races of the Mountain Chickadee into a continuous series of forms. Abundant material at hand from that portion of the Sierra Nevada immediately south of Mount Whitney shows complete transition from Penthestes gambeli baileyae to P. g. abbreviatus; in fact, many of the specimens can only be placed arbitrarily in one category or the other. Several examples from the vicinity of Mono Lake, in Mono County, California, and from along the west flank of the Sierras in Inyo County, insensibly bridge the interval between P. g. abbreviatus and P. g. inyoensis, especially when considered in connection with the individual variation to which each race is subject in about normal degree.

Material at hand from different parts of the Great Basin is unsatisfactory either in that it is scanty or because of the worn state of the plumage. A summer-taken series of 13 Mountain Chickadees (nos. 8952-8964, Mus. Vert. Zool.) from the Pine Forest Mountains, Humboldt County, Nevada, shows in color no approach to P. gambeli gambeli. In this respect it is like P. g. inyoensis, but the tail averages nearly as short as in P. g. abbreviatus. Taking all features into account it seems best placed under abbreviatus. Fresh-plumaged fall specimens from this locality would make determination more certain.

A specimen (, no. 547, Mus. Vert. Zool.) from Anthony, Baker County, Oregon, taken October 16, 1907, might be referred to P. g. abbreviatus; but the tone of color of back and sides is much darker than usual in that form. It is certainly much darker than in P. g. inyoensis. Its tail is but 65.3 mm. long. A skin ([Female], no. 18, Morcom coll.) from Camp Harney, Harney County, Oregon, February 17, 1875, has a tail length of 67.7 mm., and in depth of color is about intermediate between abbreviatus and P. g. gambeli. A specimen ([Female], no. 136639, U. S. Nat. Mus., Biol. Surv. coll.) from Fort Spokane, Lincoln County, Washington, September 28, 1890, is almost identical with gambeli in coloration; but it, too, has a short tail, only 64.4 mm. long, though there is chance of error here, as several of the rectrices are missing. The writer prefers to leave these last three examples for the time being unplaced.

It is clear that intergradation between Penthestes gambeli gambeli and any one of the other three subspecies is less well established than between any two of these other three. But sufficiency of material from the proper localities through eastern Oregon and eastern Washington would likely prove its existence as is the case between the California forms.

MEASUREMENTS (IN MILLIMETERS) OF SELECTED SPECIMENS REPRESENTING THE FOUR RACES OF Penthestes gambeli