Birds from Coahuila, Mexico

by Emil K. Urban

*Sitta carolinensis mexicana Nelson and Palmer.—Specimens examined: total 2: ♂ 31669 and ♀ 31670 from the Cañon d. Meco, Sierra Guadalupe (=10 mi. S General Cepeda), 6500 ft., April 23, 1953, weights, 17, 18 gms.

Typical populations of this White-breasted Nuthatch occur in southern Coahuila. Ridgway (1904:449) listed S. c. mexicana from Sierra Guadalupe in southern Coahuila. The underparts of our specimens are darker than in nelsoni, and their bills (culmen, 15, 13 mm.) are shorter than the average (♂, 19.8 mm.; ♀, 18.6 mm. [Ridgway, 1904:447]) in nelsoni. The large size of the testes (5×3 mm.) of No. 31669 suggests breeding by S. c. mexicana in Sierra Guadalupe.

*Sitta pygmaea melanotis van Rossem.—In Coahuila the Pigmy Nuthatch seems to be locally common. Miller (1955a:169) reported it so between 7500 and 8000 feet in pine-oak on the mesa tops and in the heads of canyons of the Sierra del Carmen and noted that it breeds there. Hardy saw the Pigmy Nuthatch 13 mi. E San Antonio de las Alazanas on July 6, 1955.

Certhia familiaris americana Bonaparte.—Specimens examined: total 2: ♀ 31612 from the base of Don Martín Dam, November 27, 1953, skull partially unossified; and ♀ 31587 from 20 mi. S Ocampo, 6500 ft., April 5, 1954, weight, 7 gms.

This subspecies of the Brown Creeper can be considered a sparse winter visitant to Coahuila. Van Hoose (1955:302) reported that Nos. 31612 and 31587 constitute the southernmost records of C. f. americana and represent the first records of occurrence of americana in México.

Certhia familiaris montana Ridgway.—Miller (1955a:169) reported this subspecies of the Brown Creeper, which he assumed to be a winter visitant or a migrant, in the Sierra del Carmen. He (loc. cit.) remarked also that the higher conifers would seem to constitute favorable habitat for nesting by the Brown Creeper, but did not find any evidence of a breeding population of creepers in the Sierra del Carmen. Miller, Friedmann, Griscom, and Moore (1957:143) reported C. f. montana from San Lázaro Mountain on November 9.

**Certhia familiaris albescens Berlepsch.—Specimens examined: total 3: sex ? 32805 from 13 mi. E San Antonio de las Alazanas, July 7, 1955; ♂ ♂ 31610-31611 from 3 mi. S, 13 mi. E San Antonio de las Alazanas, 8900 ft., January 12, 1954.

Miller, Friedmann, Griscom, and Moore (1957:143) reported C. f. albescens from "southern Coahuila." Nos. 31610-31611 and 32805 represent the only other records of this subspecies from the State. The date (July 7) on which No. 32805 was obtained suggests that this bird was a resident 13 mi. E San Antonio de las Alazanas.

Troglodytes aedon parkmanii Audubon.—Specimen examined: one, sex ? 29556, from 1.5 mi. N Parras, 5500 ft., November 10, 1949, weight, 9.8 gms.

Burleigh and Lowery (1942:197) recorded the House Wren "in small numbers about Saltillo where occasional birds, presumably migrants, were noted in thickets or stretches of underbrush fringing cultivated fields." They obtained a single male "on the outskirts of Saltillo." Hellmayr (1934:218) listed T. a. parkmanii from Sabinas.