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HARVARD UNIVERSITY
mlil
LIBRARY
OF THS
Museum of Comparative Zoology
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K-6
COOPER ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB
PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA
NUMBER 11
A DISTRIBUTIONAL LIST OF THE
BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA
BY
JOSEPH GRINNELL
CONTRIBUTION PROM THB MUSBUM OP VBRTBBRATB ZOOLOGY
OP THB UNIVBRSITY OF CALIPORNIA
HOLLYWOOD, CALIPORNL\
PUBLISHBD BY THE CLUB
October 21,/1915 ^
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NOTE
Pacific Coast Avifauna No. 11 is the eleventh in a series of publications
issued by the Cooper Ornithological Club for the accommodation of papers whose
length prohibits their appearance in The Condor.
The publications of the Cooper Ornithological Club consist of two series —
The Condor, which is the bi-monthly official organ, and the Pacific Coast Avi-
fauna.
For information as to either of the above series, address one of the Club
Business Managers, J. Eugene Law, Hollywood, California, or W. Lee Chambers,
Eagle Bock, California.
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CONTENTS
page
Introduction 5
Plan of Treatment 7
Distributional Areas 9
Acknowledgments 13
The Birds of California 15
Species Credited to California on Unsatisfactory Grounds 173
Hypothetical List 174
Index 191
plate
Map of Life Zones of California I
Cross-sectional Profiles of California Showing Life Zones II
Map of Faunal Areas of California Ill
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INTRODUCTION
Apparently the first attempt to catalog all the birds known at any one time
from California was made by Dr. James G. Cooper in his unsigned contribution
to Cronise's Natural Wealth of Calif omia (pp. 448-480), published in 1868. A
brief running account is there given of 353 species. In 1890, Lyman Belding
(Occasional Papers, ii, California Academy of Sciences) ascribed 295 species of
land birds to California, and in 1892, Walter E. Bryant {Zoe, iii, pp. 135-140)
listed 150 water birds, making a total of 445 species and subspecies then credited
to the state. Ten years later, in Pacific Coast Avifauna number 3, 1902, the
present writer enumerated, with brief annotations, 491 species and subspecies;
and in 1912, in Pacific Coast Avifauna number 8, the same author gave a nom-
inal list of 530 forms. The present contribution shows a total of 541 species
and subspecies believed at the time of going to press. May 1, 1915, to properly
belong to the Recent avifauna of the state.
Of course, in each of the previous lists there have been some erroneous
entries; but the omission of these names in the succeeding list has always been
more than compensated for by additions during the intervening period. This
process may be expected to continue almost ad infinitum, as long as faunal lists
are published. As in the fifteen years or so just past, the increments will come
chiefly through the detection of stragglers, and, judging from the nature of those
already recorded, individuals representing practically every species and sub-
species in North America and the adjacent waters may be expected to reach
California sooner or later. This would probably hold true as well for any other
area in temperate America.
A notable part of the recent expansion in our state list has been due to more
intensive exploration, to the accumulation of series of specimens more or less
fully representing practically all of our faunal areas, and to the resulting activ-
ity in subspecific discrimination made possible by these favoring circumstances.
While a great gain has been evident of recent years in the accumulation of
materials for the study of avian distribution, our basis for exhaustive research in
this line is yet far from ideal. The present writer, after having gone over the
literature with considerable care, confesses that there is still so much to be
desired that he has been discouraged from attempting now, as originally planned,
a far more detailed definition of the range of each species of California bird.
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6 PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA No. 11
An example of how he had wished to undertake such a treatment is to be found
in his paper on the ** Distribution of the Mockingbird in California" {Auk,
XXVIII, 1911, pp. 293-300, map). Part of the trouble lies in the general lack of
accurate systematic analyses of the variable groups of birds. Systematic ornith-
ology is popularly supposed to have reached such a high plane that no further
work remains to be done. As a matter of fact, the status of very many forms,
both species and subspecies, is but imperfectly understood, and consequently it is
impossible to map their distribution accurately. The type of work needed in
this connection is well illustrated in Swarth's paper entitled **The California
Forms of the Genus Psaltriparus'' (Auk, xxxi, 1914, pp. 499-526, pi. xl). A
score of other groups demand similar close attention.
There is marked need for much further field work, such as any conscien-
tious student of birds can engage in locally, whereby relative numbers of each
species will be ascertained for restricted areas throughout the year. The census
idea is an excellent one in this connection, and it is to be hoped that greatly
improved methods of recording bird populations will be developed, so that dis-
tributional behavior can be expressed in more nearly exact terms than is at pres-
ent possible.
In the main list comprising the bulk of the present paper, the author has
exercised care in admitting little known species to full standing. Where, after
due enquiry, grounds have been found for doubting the validity of a record, it
has been relegated to the Hypothetical List as a species credited to California
on unsatisfactory grounds (see p. 173), or else the name appears under the
synonymy of some other form, or sometimes both dispositions have been made
of the doubtful record. With rare, so-called ** accidental", species, the bird
must, as a rule, have been secured and preserved in some accessible collection
so as to be subject to re-identification whenever desirable. The oft-repeated
maxim holds: That the more unusual and hence unexpected the alleged occur-
rence of a species, the better must be the evidence in the case ; such evidence must
be reasonably conclusive to warrant its acceptance as authentic.
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1915
PLAN OP TREATMENT
It is important that the limitations of the following treatment of species be
clearly understood ; too much must not be expected of it, and at the same time its
full scope of usefulness should be realized.
The systematic order is that of the American Ornithologists* Union Check-
List (1910), except that within groups of species or subspecies a more natural
arrangement is sometimes adopted, for example by according with geographical
sequence. The A. 0. U. order is thus accepted here because of the convenience
thereby admittedly secured, in concording with the bulk of current ornithological
literature. That the classification indicated is quite unsatisfactory cannot be
gainsaid. (See Pacific Coast Avifauna no. 8, 1912, p. 5.)
The first number, in bold-face type, is the running number of this list. The
second number, in parenthesis, is that of the species as enumerated in the third
edition (1910) of the A. 0. U. Check-List. This may serve to facilitate concord-
ance where the names are different. The term part^ within the parenthesis, is
used where the subspecies or species here given full standing is not also separ-
ately recognized in the A. 0. U. list, but is included both geographically and sys-
tematically with the species whose number is cited.
The nomenclature in large measure follows that adopted by the A. 0. U.
Committee on Nomenclature up to and including the Sixteenth Supplement
(July, 1912). In a few cases departure from this standard has seemed justified
because of the clearness of the contrary evidence as presented by the original
investigator, or because my own knowledge of the problems concerned seems to
provide sufficient ground for the expression of positive opinion. These points
of difference as a rule concern subspecies only.
The synonyms given are only those which have been applied to the species
as occurring in California. No effort has been made to obtain a Complete list of
vernacular appellations, only the more common book names being given. But
the scientific names have been collected during rather exhaustive search and
are believed to include very nearly all ever applied to any bird of the state. The
term part is employed in connection with such names as have been applied to
more than one species or subspecies in California. Minor departures in spelling
from better known forms of names are not included ; for example Dendroeca for
Dendroica, unalascae for aonalaschkae, etc. Diphthongs are not indicated by
the use of connected vowels. Possessives in vernacular names are ignored. All
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8 PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA No. 11
printed synonyms are entered in the Index, so that the latter may be used as a
means of identifying any name in the literature of California ornithology.
The terms employed for comparative abundance are the usual simple and
relative ones: Abundant, common, fairly common, rare. Seasonal status is in-
dicated by these terms : Resident, meaning permanently present throughout the
year ; summer visitant, indicating presence only during the summer season which
is also usually the breeding season ; tvinter visitant, of obvious meaning, comple-
mentary to summer visitant; transient, psssing through during spring and fall
migrations and tarrying neither for the summer nor the winter. Occasional
qualifying words are used, with the intention always of leaving the meaning
clear.
This is solely a distributional paper; it has nothing to do with migration,
extent of breeding season, or systematic status, except in the latter case in so far
as is necessary to elucidate distribution. The distributional terms employed are
explained on succeeding pages (pp. 9-12). The maps (pis. I-III) should be con-
tinually consulted. In using this list it must be kept in mind that only with the
rarer species are all records of occurrence cited. With by far the greater num-
ber of species, only the first or most important for each critical locality is given;
also only such localities are specifically noted as represent extremes of range,
like northernmost, easternmost, etc., or are otherwise specially worthy of atten-
tion.
Citations to articles are, of course, given in uniformly abbreviated form.
Where the title of the periodical or book is not clearly apparent, reference should
be made to my Bibliography of California Ornithology (Pacific Coast Avifauna
number 5, 1909). Where more than one person of the same surname has contrib-
uted to Califomian ornithology, the appropriate initials are used in citation ; for
example, J. G. Cooper, W. A. Cooper. But otherwise the surname alone has
seemed sufficient ; as : Gambel, Heermann, Torrey.
An effort has been made to give the location, in museums or private collec-
tions, of specimens which form the basis of extraordinary records, as in the case
of species which have been reported from the state less than four times.
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1915
DISTRIBUTIONAL AREAS
Close study of the , life of any geographic area of large extent invariably
shows that, in dealing with the ranges of the included species, certain more or
less definite subdivisions may be usefully recognized. In other words, instead
of homogeneity in faunal composition, we find marked change from place to
place ; and this change manifests itself in the exclusive presence, in a given por-
tion of the territory, of certain species, and in the absence of other species, pres-
ent in contiguous portions of the territory. There is usually conspicuous agree-
ment in the occurrence of a goodly proportion of the entire complement of spe-
cies, and this makes possible the characterization of minor areas relatively uni-
form within themselves. These latter are found to be separated by narrow
marginal strips of country where species drop out and others come in, and where,
in the case of subspecies, intergradation of forms takes place.
Each species or subspecies has a definite range, in which it is normally
abundant. It is the fact of approximate coincidence in the ranges of several or
many species that makes it possible to definitely characterize distributional areas.
These may be of varying rank, according as a greater or less percent of the total
complement of species is peculiar to each. A good parallel is afforded, in illus-
tration, by the manner in which characters are used in establishing systematic
groups; relatively few characters distinguish species and subspecies; progress-
ively more justify successively higher groups.
No such proportional treatment as just suggested has as yet been applied
in the attempt to divide California into zoogeographic areas. Data in hand,
while seemingly great in quantity, are still not sufficient to afford satisfactory
basis for statistical analysis. But enough are apparent upon comparatively
superficial examination to warrant the schemes here employed. These schemes
are not an innovation; they have grown up â– gradually, contributed to from
various sources and by various students, and are therefore believed to express
somewhere near the facts.
A major grouping of species geographically is by life zones, in accordance
with the system advocated by C. Hart Merriam. The ranges of most of the
land birds given in the present paper are defined primarily in terms of life
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10 PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA No. 11
zones, and the extent of these distributional units, as represented within the
boundaries of California, is shown roughly on the map, plate I. The cross-sec-
tional profiles given on plate II serve to convey some interesting suggestions as
to the effect of altitude and distance from the sea upon the ranges of the various
animals severally concerned.
Of lesser rank are faunal and subfaunal areas, using the term "faunal" in
a restricted or special sense. These areas, as the writer conceives of them, are
naturally subdivisions of life zones, so that each faunal unit consists of a divi-
sion of one life zone. The system of nomenclature for faunal units ought logically
to indicate their relationships accordingly ; but it does not. As a matter of prac-
tical necessity in most cases, divisions of two or even more adjacent zones are
lumped together under one faunal name (compare plates I and III).
It is natural to try to find some underlying causative factor to account for
the two types of distributional behavior involved in the two schemes, of life
zones and faunal areas. Study of the maps, of coBditions in. the field, and of
statements of distribution concerning our birds and other vertebrate animals
has forcibly suggested that adjacent zones are demarked from one another by
increase or decrease of temperature beyond in each case certain critical points.
Thus, in ascending a mountain, such as San Jacinto Peak, while there is little
doubt but that there is a uniform gradient in temperature from warm to cold,
one is impressed with the fact of zonation, — ^the existence of belts of life suc-
cessively passed through, broadly uniform, with narrow intervening bands of
blending.
The great topographic diversity in California, together with the presence
of the sea with the cool air-currents moving in a prevailingly eastward direction
from it, are factors which may be readily cited as accounting for the intricate
pattern of the life zones as shown on the map of this state. It is not necessary to
specify precise temperatures, in degrees, as delimiting zones (and this has not
yet been attempted critically by any one for California), in order to comprehend
what the writer believes to be true — that temperature is the most important sin-
gle one of the several factors controlling the ranges of our birds. How this con-
trol is exerted upon each species concerned is a problem as yet incompletely
solved, but it seemingly has in many cases to do with the period and processes
of reproduction.
Broadly speaking, we may recognize two main zonal contingents in the ver-
tebrate life of California, Boreal, or northern, and Austral, or southern. Because
of the dominance here, in effect upon temperature, of altitude over latitude, we
might explain the situation more clearly to the inexperinced by speaking of the
animal life of the cool mountains as compared with the animal life of the warm
valleys. The contrasted differences are enormous, as even a cursory survey will
suffice to show. No close observer will deny that the critical factor here is that
of temperature.
By considering the whole of North America we are able to readily justify
zonal subdivision a step, and only one step, farther, as indicated in the following
brief synopsis of life zones.
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PLATE n.— Crost-sectioiial Profiles of California, along
Vertical scale in feet; horizi
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1916 DISTRIBUTIONAL AREAS 11
{Arctic (or Alpine- Arctic)
Hudsonian
Canadian
< Transition
AUBTBAL
Tbopical
Upper Sonoran
Lower Sonoran
While all of the zones from Lower Sonoran to Alpine- Arctic are represented
in California, the accompanying map takes account only of the Lower Sonoran
(orange), Upper Sonoran (yellow), and Transition (blue), separately, the three
uppermost subdivisions being lumped into one under the major designation
Boreal (green). This lumping is advisable for two reasons: (1) the detail on a
map of small scale would be too fine for practical portrayal; (2) the three divi-
sions of Boreal are not, in California, as sharply demarked as in a north-and-
south section of the continent interiorly, zonation in California in this respect
being confused locally through the effects of small area, and factors other than
temperature.
Transition is, as the name implies, a zone of overlapping of Boreal and
Austral, — ^where certain types from these opposite categories occur over a defi-
nite interval on common ground; and there are also perfectly characteristic
breeding species, chiefly if not exclusively among migrant forms, which render
this zone easily recognizable.
Turning again to the faunal divisions of California, we find that the factor
here involved is undoubtedly humidity of the atmosphere, directly or indirectly.
Roughly, the western portion of the United States can be separated into an arid
interior province (Great Basin plus southwestern desert tracts), and a humid
coastal strip, the latter of increasing width from south to north. In California
this line of demarcation appears to lie, approximately, along the crest of the
great Sierran divide the whole length of the state, from the Oregon line in the
vicinity of Molint Shasta, to the Mexican boundary below, and in line with, the
Cuyamaca Mountains. Distance from the ocean, prevailing direction of air cur-
rents, and height of intervening elevations of land crossed by these, seem to be
the chief conditions modifying the atmospheric humidity of a locality.
The faunal and subfaunal areas here recognized may be classified as follows.
The relationship of zones to faunas is also suggested.
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12 PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA No. 11
Major Major
Zones Faunal Diyisions Subfaunal Divisions
( Humboldt Bay , ^^ ^^ „ , , ^ ^
^1 > Northern Humid Coast
Humid Coast < Marin
BOBEAL
Santa Cruz
Trinity
SiEBRAN { Sierra Nevadan
San Bernardino Mountain
Sierra Foothill
Clear Lake
Sacramento Valley
iCalifornian { San Joaquin Valley
San Francisco Bay
Austral ( | San Diegan
Santa Barbara Island
Modoc
Great Basin ; ^^^^
(or Arid Interior) ) Mohave Desert
Colorado Desert
Reference to plate III will show that, as with zones, the outlines of the
faunal areas in California are very irregular. The limit of subdivision of faunas
is not as sharply determined as with zones, and there is here more latitude for
the personal element. The boundaries as given are, of course, merely approx-
imate, and the areas themselves will doubtless receive extensive modification on
the basis of future, more intensive, geographical study. Still, their recognition
as now defined has proven of great use in the attempt to formulate briefly the
extent of the ranges of the many species of birds involved.
A third order of distributional behavior, wholly complementary to the other
two, has been employed elsewhere in the study of the distribution of California