TYPE LOCALITY AND EARLY SPECIMENS OF THE MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE

Abstract

The type locality for the Mountain Chickadee (Poecile gambeli) has been somewhat confused in various editions of the American Ornithologists’ Union (AOU) Check-list of North American Birds. Consideration of the local geography and environmental conditions at the time the type specimen was collected in 1841 reveals that the type locality can, in fact, be identified more clearly, but not unambiguously.