OF NEW ENGLAKD. 227 



with some white, besides that mentioned. 9 , of a deep^ warm 

 brown wliere tlie male is black. 



(6). The nest, which near Boston is generally finished in the 

 last week of May, is to be found in the "scrub" and low wet 

 woods. It is placed on the ground, or near it in a pile of 

 underbrush, and is composed of twigs, dead leaves, grasses, 

 and roots. The eggs of each set are usually four, averaging 

 1-00 X "75 of an inch ; and their ground-color is white, often 

 tinged with brown or gray. The markings are usually very 

 fine, rarely in blotches, and never coarse. They are sometimes 

 most prominent about the crown, and sometimes are scattered 

 evenly over the egg, often being very minute and numerous. 

 Their colors are various browns, and occasionally lilac also. 



(c). The Towhee Buntings are common almost throughout 

 the eastern United States, though rare to the northward of 

 Massachusetts, and not known to occur beyond the White 

 Mountains. In other parts of the country they are repre- 

 ' sented by numerous closely allied species and varieties, as are 

 other of our common birds, such as the Song Sparrow, of whom 

 there are said to be no less than six distinct races in the West 

 and North-west. 69 The " Towhees " usually reach Boston 

 (which now includes much countiy within its limits) in the 

 first week of May, sometimes earlier, sometimes later, and 

 leave it in September or early October. On their arrival they 

 sometimes appear in the copses and shrubbery of cultivated 

 estates, but they usually desert these later in the season, and 

 frequent almost exclusively swampy woodland, and the "scrub," 

 often that growing on hillsides. The "scrub" is a low or 

 bushy "growth" of trees, consisting chiefly of oaks and birches, 

 which occurs for the most part in dry and hilly lands, particu- 

 larly such as once contained pines. Here among the under- 

 brush the "Chewinks" busy themselves, always on or near the 

 ground, except when the males mount some low perch to sing. 

 They search for seeds and insects underneath the leaves and 

 decayed vegetation, which they turn over by scratching much 



68 Dr. Coues. 



