Gnatcatchers (Polioptilidae)

California Gnatcatcher (Polioptila californica) - HBW 11, p. 372

French: Gobemoucheron de Californie German: Kalifornienmückenfänger Spanish: Perlita Californiana

Taxonomy: Polioptila californica Brewster, 1881, Riverside, California, USA.
Forms a superspecies with P. melanura, and previously treated as conspecific. Geographical variation mostly clinal, generally becoming smaller, paler and shorter-tailed, with increasing amounts of white on outer rectrices, from N to S; ranges listed below somewhat arbitrary; birds on Espíritu Santo I and San José I of uncertain racial affiliation, tentatively placed in margaritae. Genetic data suggest that species perhaps better treated as monotypic. Four subspecies tentatively recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution: