The Subspecies of the Mountain ChickadeeGrinnell, Joseph
Science
The Subspecies of the Mountain Chickadee
Grinnell, Joseph
Birds -- California; Chickadees
_Parus montanus_ Gambel (1843, p. 259); and of authors, part.
This name preoccupied (see Ridgway, 1904, p. 409).
_Parus gambeli_ Ridgway _in_ American Ornithologists' Union
Committee (1886, p. 335); and of authors, part. Substitute
name.
_Parus gambeli thayeri_ Birtwell (1901, p. 166). Based on
adventitiously colored specimen from Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Type in United States National Museum.
_Penthestes gambeli_, of authors, part.
_Type locality._--Santa Fé, New Mexico.
_Diagnosis._--Among the four subspecies of _Penthestes gambeli_ here
recognized, color alone is sufficient for distinguishing _P. gambeli
gambeli_. The flanks, sides of body and back in this form are pervaded
with a distinct tinge of cinnamon--more exactly, the "pinkish buff" of
Ridgway (1912, pl. 29). In addition, this race shows the greatest length
of tail, and slenderest bill.
_Measurements._--Average of 14 males: Wing, 70.5 mm.; tail, 70.2;
exposed culmen, 8.6; depth of bill at base, 3.8. For extremes, see
accompanying table.
_Note._--In this paper the length of wing is the usual chord of the
folded wing as dried at the side of the body in the conventional study
skin. The tail length, however, is measured from the _base_ of the
uropygium to the tip of the longest pair of rectrices. It is found that
in preparing specimens there is a practically uniform place for cutting
off from the body the uropygium with attached feathers, and this is
exactly where the tail bends back at an angle to the body in the fresh
bird. The lateral rectrices are rooted evenly with the base of the dried
uropygium so that the measurement of tail length thus taken becomes the
distance from the extreme proximal ends of the most lateral pair of
rectrices to the tips of the central pair--somewhat greater than the
length of tail as given by Ridgway (1901, p. xv), the latter being the
measurement from the base of the central pair of tail feathers to the
tips of same. My reason for adopting this different procedure here is
that more accuracy seems possible thereby, at least in the kind of
material here dealt with. There is less mussing of the specimen also.
Neither depth of bill nor culmen is a practical index to degree of
slenderness of bill. No ordinary method of measurement will suffice to
indicate the facts as they are perceived by the eye.
As will be seen by the dates in the tables, as a rule only unworn
specimens have been selected for measurement.
_Range._--The Rocky Mountain region of North. America, from
eastern British Columbia and western Alberta south to western Texas,
New Mexico and Arizona. _Specimens examined_, 72, from the following
localities:
Alberta: Smoky Valley, 50 miles north of Jasper House, 1; Henry House, 1;
15 miles west of Henry House, 1.
British Columbia: South fork of Moose River, 1.
Montana: Gallatin County: Jefferson River, 1; Madison River, 2;
Hillsdale, 2; Mystic Lake, 1; Dry Creek, 1.
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