1926]

Swarth: Birds and Mammals from the Atlin Region 71

settled at certain spots where they resented intrusion. Whatever
the reason, these birds all disappeared before the end of June, and we
had no evidence that any broods were hatched in that vicinity. The
first fall migrant appeared on upper Otter Creek, July 27, and during
the next ten days they were of daily occurrence. Last seen August 6.

Two specimens were collected (nos. 44653-44654), an adult male at
Careross, May 25, and an immature male on Otter Creek, July 27.
From outward appearances these birds might be referred to two
different subspecies, the first to the eastern form, Tringa solitaria
solitaria, the other to the western, 7. s. cinnamomea, but I am not
satisfied that this division is justified. These two subspecies, at best,
are but poorly defined. The latest monographer of the group
(Ridgway, 1919, pp. 353, 358, 363) gives the distinguishing characters
of the two as follows: Tringa s. solitaria. Size smaller. ‘‘Summer
adults with upper parts much more distinctly spotted with white;
young with spotting on upper parts white or grayish white; white
bars on tail averaging wider; the middle pair of rectrices never
wholly grayish brown.’’

T.s. cinnamomea. Size larger. ‘‘Summer adults with upper parts
much less distinctly spotted with white; young with spotting of upper
parts brownish buffy or cinnamomeus; white bars on tail averaging
narrower, the middle pair of rectrices often (usually?) wholly deep
grayish brown.”’

An additional character cited by Brewster (1890, p. 377) in his
description of Totanus solitarius cinnamomeus, but not used by
Ridgway, is the presence in cinnamomeus of more or less ‘‘freckling’’
at the inner base of the outermost primary.

Examination in the present connection of some forty-odd specimens
of eastern and western birds revealed no more satisfactory mode of
dividing them than by regard to the points of capture.. Some eastern
specimens (from Indiana and Pennsylvania) are smaller than any
western birds, but others are well within the size limits of cinnamomea.
Also, some western birds, taken in the fall and presumably immature,
are more cinnamomeous in color of upper parts. As regards distinct-
ness of spotting above, and character of tail markings, I found it
impossible to make division by these features. Most (but not all)
western birds show more or less of the ‘‘freckling’’ at the base of the
primary, and it is not present in any eastern specimens at hand.

The several characters indicated are independently variable, so that
a given specimen may, on the basis of one certain feature, seem