Northern Range of the Phainopepla
Northern Range of the Phainopepla.- PhainojepZa nitens has been recorded along the foothills of the Sierras at various places north as far as Marysville, but previous to my observations the northern limit in the Coast Range was Mt. Hamilton where R. H. Beck noted one bird in November, 1899, and Ernest Adams also recorded a bird from near the same place on October 28, 1898. Joseph Mailliard reports having heard their note in Marin County, but has never seen a bird.
On June 23, 1907, while in the Arroyo Mocha in southern Alameda County, I saw six of these birds which I took to be a family of four young and their parents. On April 1, 1908, near the same place I again saw a pair of Phainopeplas, but failed to secure either bird. Later in the year, however, while doing extended geological work in the Arroyo Mocha I again met with the birds several times, and I believed several pairs to have raised broods this last summer. A number of birds were seen at dusk on July 21, 1908, and one young male of the year was taken, thus proving the birds to be breeding in Alameda County which probably marks their most northerly limit-J. R. PEMBERTON, Stanford University, California.
