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Nat. Hist., 1892. The two forms specially considered are named C. auratus and C. cafer, and they differ in the following seven characters: C. auratus. C. cafer. Quills yellow. 1. Quills red. Male with black cheek stripe. 2. Male with red cheek stripe. Adult female with no 3. Adult female with usually cheek stripe. brown cheek stripe. A scarlet nuchal crescent 4.
But, as the author we are quoting points out, when we think of the wide range of conditions in the country occupied by auratus, extending from Florida to the Arctic, it is impossible to believe that there is any common element in the conditions which demands a scarlet nuchal patch in auratus, while the equally varied conditions in the cafer area do not require that character.
C. cafer in comparatively pure form occupies Mexico, Arizona, California, part of Nevada, Utah, Oregon, and is bounded on the east by a line drawn from the Pacific south of Washington State, south and eastward through Colorado to the mouth of the Rio Grande on the Gulf of Mexico.
Bateson remarks that some naturalists may be disposed once more to appeal to our ignorance, and suggest that if we only knew more we should find that the yellow quills, the black 'moustache, and the red nuchal crescent specially adapt auratus to the conditions of the northern and eastern region, while the red quills, red moustache, and absence of crescent fit cafer to the conditions of the more southern and western territory.
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