TOWHEE BUNTING. 577 



Che wink or Towhee Bunting {^Pipilo erythrophthalmus). 

 About 8.50 long, and 11.00 in extent, the male is black 

 above, the color extending in rounded outline over the 

 breast; the sides are chestnut; the belly white; the vent 

 pale reddish; there is a white spot at the base of the prima- 

 ries, and an oblique white mark about in their middle; 

 there is also some white on the tertiaries; the long tail has 

 the three outer feathers finely marked with white. In ma- 

 turity the iris is bright red. The female is brown w^here 

 the male is black. Thickets, bushy pastures and barren 

 tracts on the higher grounds are the favorite resorts of this 

 species. It comes early, reaching the Middle States in 

 April. The bottom poles of an old rail fence, among the 

 briers by the woods, is very likely to be its thoroughfare; and 

 at all times it keeps for the most part on or near the ground. 

 Sit down quietly in the thicket, and you will hear its sharp 

 rustle, as it scratches among the dry leaves; this hen-like 

 scratching, probably in search of food, being one of its 

 marked characteristics of habit. As it flits from bush to 

 bush, never flying far nor high, you can hear the w/nr-r-r-r, 

 of its short, rounded, concave wings, and as it opens its 

 long, fan-like tail, with a jerking motion, the white mark- 

 ings contrast strongly with the jet-black figure. It hops, and 

 sidles, and dodges about, in and out through the brush-pile, 

 the brambles and the thicket, with a nervous, sparrow-like 

 movement, its tail being often throw^n up, after the manner 

 of the Chat or Wren. Frequently it calls out, c/iewink, or 

 towhee^ with a sharp and somewhat prolonged aspirate on 

 the second syllable, thus rendering either of those words, 

 which have become its common names, very distinctly; but 

 in order to get the exact effect, the words must be pro- 

 nounced just so, — wdth just such an emphasis and intona- 

 tion. Before hearing the note, neither of the above names 

 37 



