Black Phoebe in British Columbia
Black Phoebe in British Columbia
Shortly prior to his death, the late R. A. Cumming wrote to Mr. J. A. Munro, of Okanagan Landing, B.C., requesting that he prepare and publish a note recording the first capture of the Black Phoebe in British Columbia. As the Cumming collection, including thii specimen, has been incorporated in the Provincial Museum collection, Mr. Munro has forwarded the letter to me with the request that I put the specimen on record.
The specimen in question is a well-made skin of a female Sayornis nigricans nigricans. This bird, to quote from Mr. Cumming’s letter was “taken November 11, 1936, on the B. C: Electric Rail, way tracks near Marpole. The afternoon was cold, after a rainstorm. My son Gordon was with me at the time.”
Had it been in the summer or early fall this occurrence could have been more readily understood. However, it is interesting, perhaps significant, to note that the other recorded occurrences of vagrant flycatchers in British Columbia were also in the fall and winter. Thus the only known specimen of Tyrannus dominicensis from the Province was taken at Cape Beale, V. I., on October 9, 1889, and the single specimen of Tyrannus melanckolicus chloronotus was shot in February, 1923, at French’s Beach, V. I.
Ian Mctaggart Cowan
Provincial Museum, Victoria, B. C., February 20, 1939
