Jan.,'1918 NOTES ON SOME BIRDS FROM CENTRAL ARIZONA 23 its dimensions, is referable to Junco p. dorsalis, but in the extension of the red- dish dorsal coloration upon some of the greater wing coverts and tertials it ap- proaches J.p. palliatus. In fact there are examples of the latter race at hand, from the Huachuca Mountains, Arizona, in which the dorsal markings are practically the same. 'The bird in question, however, had the unmistakable brown iris of dorsalis, as I hastened to ascertain as soon as I had the specimen in hand, instead of the white iris so conspicuous in palliatus. The color of the eyes in these closely related forms of Junco provides sub- jeer matter for speculation as regards the nature of specific and subspecific dif- ferences between animal forms. As a rule we regard as subspecies those races which are distinguished by the varying development of some common character or characters, as of shades of color, extent of markings, grea?er or lesser siz. e, etc.; whereas the presence or absence of some one definite feature is supposed to indicate a much wider degree of difference between the forms thus characterized. In the ease of the two Juneos, dorsalis and palliatus, the eyes are conspicu- ously different, being dark brown in one, pale yellow, ahnost white, in the other, and there is apparently no intergradation between,the two in this respect. At any rate, in a large series of palliatus from the Huaehuea Mountains, Arizona (about sixty specimens), there is none that showed any approach toward dorsalis in color of eye. In other characters the series:shows considerable variation, there being many specimens which in dorsal coloration closely approach typical dorsalis. Despite the absolute difference in color of iris between the two forms, they are generally regarded as being but subspecifically distinct. Ridgway (Birds N. and 5lid. Am., 1, 1901, pp. 297, 299) considers them as two species, but whether this treatment is mainly based upon the color of the eyes is not apparent. In the juvenal plumage of palliatus the iris is dark brown and the bill is dark colored. When the first winter plumage is acquired the iris becomes yellow, the upper mandible black and the lower yellow. In eastern North America there is a similar ease in the two towbees, Pipilo (rythrophthalmus erythrophthalmus and P. e. alleni. Judging from these two instances alone, of the towhees and the juneos, it would seem that according 'to our usually accepted standards the forms in question should be regarded as spe- cifically distinct; but there are other eases among birds which seem to indleate that the coloration of the eye can not, perhaps, be judged by the same standards we apply to other characters. Among the bush-tits (Psaltripar?,s), for instance, at least in the species Psaltriparus minimits and P. plumbeus, white eyes and brown eyes occur indiscriminately, regardless of sex or locality. -a-ml?hi?l?iza biliueat? de?er?icola. Desert Sparrow. There are certain pe- culiarities in the local distribution of this species that seem worthy of comment. io Desert Sparrows were seen about Phoenix or Tempe, though the character of 'the country was apparently as well suited to the bird as were the sections about Roosevelt Lake and Globe, where it was present in numbers. Pa?erina cy?nea. Indigo Bunting. On June 30 there was brought to me, for identification, a bird killed by a boy working in the garden. It proved to be an adult male Indigo Bunting, somewhat mutilated through being shot with a .22 caliber rifle, though not so much so but that it made a fairly neat specimen. The point where this bird was taken (Carr's Ranch, Sierra Aneha) is at about 5?00 feet altitude, in the Transition Zone; and at the same place several pairs of Lazuli Buntings (Passcrina amoena) frequented shrubbery bordering one of the
