282 BULLETIN OF THE 



54* Pipilo erythrophthalmus Vieillot. Chewix-k. 

 Exceedingly numerous. 



Mr. C. J. Maynard detected an interesting local race or variety of this 

 bird at Dummitt's. Besides having the irides yellowish-white instead of 

 red, there is less white at the base of the primaries, less skirting the 

 secondaries, and much less on the tail. The whole bird is also smaller. 

 The white on the tail generally extends only to the three outer pairs of 

 feathers ; in the common northern form it extends over the four outer 

 pairs, and on the first is much more extended than in the Florida one. 

 The tail of the common form, with the outer pair of feathers removed, 

 would resemble, in respect to the distribution and extent of the white, that 

 of the Florida bird. The song of this bird, as I heard it at Jacksonville 

 in April, is quite different from that of the northern bird, it being ordinarily 

 only about half as long, and uttered with much less spirit. As is well 

 known, the song of the towhe, or chewink, at the north consists of two 

 parts, nearly equal in length but otherwise quite different. In the Florida 

 bird the last half is almost entirely omitted. According to Mr. Maynard, 

 this variety is almost the only one occurring on Indian River, and of which 

 he brought home some forty or more specimens. I found also one among 

 half a dozen I shot at Jacksonville in January. In April, among a few 

 towhes exposed in cages for sale in the market, were several of this kind. 

 There is probably a large proportion of northern birds among the Pipilones 

 of Northern Florida in winter, while probably in summer the majority are 

 of the southern type above described, as are those of Middle and Southern 

 Florida, doubtless, :it all seasons. 



Had this form been discovered ten, or even five years since, it would 

 probably have been regarded by most ornithologists as entitled to specific 

 rank, and not as a local race of P. erythrophthalmus, as it evidently is. 

 Indeed, there are many species still on our lists that are far less entitled to 

 rank as species than this, but which, though at first only provisionally 

 adopted, have become traditionally established as valid species. 



The two tables of measurements of specimens of this species given 

 below, with Table J (p. 212), show the difference in size that obtains be- 

 tween Massachusetts and Florida specimens. The first table embraces 

 twenty-nine specimens (nineteen males and ten females) of the white- 

 eyed Florida type ; the second table embraces sixteen specimens (ten 

 males and six females) of the common northern type from Eastern Massa- 

 chusetts ; the measurements of twenty other Massachusetts males having 

 been also already given in Table J, on p. 212. The following are the 

 extremes of the two series. Northern type, males : Length, 7. .00 and 8.80; 

 alar extent, 10.00 and 12.25; wing, 3.17 and 3.90; tail, 3.30 and 3.93; 



