1891] MARYLAND ACADEMY OF SCIEXCES. 127 



color, blotched and speckled near the larger end with various 

 shades of brown or dark purple, and often have small dark spots 

 distributed here and there over most of the surface. 



Pipilo erythrophthalmus (Linn.). Towhee. 



About the middle of April the Towhee,' better known under 

 the name of Ground Finch, or Ground Robin, makes its appear- 

 ance. The earliest date of arrival observed by me has been 

 about the tenth of that month. From the date of its arrival, 

 and continuing all through the summer until the time of 

 departure, it is one of our most common birds. It occurs almost 

 everywhere, and may be seen near hedges, along the roadside in 

 shrubs and bushes, and in all kinds of thickets. Owing to its 

 size, color and habits, it is well known to our farmers. Often it 

 may be seen on the ground, like the Red Thrush, scratching up 

 the leaves in search of food, and thereby causing a quick rustling 

 noise, especially when several individuals have collected together. 

 This species seems to avoid the depths of the woods. The nest 

 is placed on the ground, and appears rather large and slovenly 

 looking. It is built chiefly of fresh grass-stalks, the outside, 

 excepting the lowest part, being composed of various dry leaves, 

 with the thin, flexible stems, sometimes a foot in length, woven 

 into the grass-stems, which give the outside a coarse appear- 

 ance, and especially as the nest is surrounded by dry leaves. 

 Oak leaves seem to be the kind which it prefers for that pur- 

 pose. The eggs are rather large, of a whitish ground color, 

 blotched, speckled, and spotted all over with reddish brown, but 

 more closely so near the larger end. Between the darker blotches 

 there are also some faint lilac spots, which may be seen by close 

 examination. The usual number of eggs seems to be five. 

 A nest was found by the writer on the fifteenth of August, in 

 which were three newly hatched young ones, which could hardly 

 have been more than one or two days old. These, we are quite 

 confident, must have belonged to a third brood. The smaller 

 number of eggs represented by these young birds may be 

 accounted for by the lateness in the season. This nest was situ- 

 ated in a small bush, not, as usual, on the ground. 



