6o6 Field Museum of Natural History — Zoology, Vol. IX. 



Adult iiuilc: Whole head, throat and back, black (occasionally 

 the feathers of the back with narrow rufoas brown edgings); belly. 



white; sides of body and flanks, rufous chestnut; crissum, tawny 

 brown; primaries and inner secondaries, black, marked with white 

 on outer webs, forming a conspicuous white patch; tail, black, the 

 three outer tail feathers, broadly tipped with white, the outer feather 

 with about the terminal third of inner web, white, the white patch 

 decreasing in size on the second and third; iris, red; bill, black. 



Adult jc]]iale: General markings as in the male, but differs in 

 having the head, throat, back, wings and tail, grayish brown, often 

 with a faint tinge of olive. 



Very young birds in first plumage have the back and under parts 

 streaked with dusky. 



Length, about 8; wing, 3.30; tail, 3.60; bill, .50. 



The Towhee Bunting is a common summer resident in Illinois 

 and Wisconsin, frequenting the hedges and thickets, from April until 

 October (earliest Chicago record, March 16). The characteristic note 

 of this species is a loud, clear chee-we or che-iviiik. 



It breeds from the latter part of April until July. The nest is 

 built on or near the ground and is composed of leaves, strips and 

 shreds of bark, etc., and lined wdth fine grass. The eggs are from 

 3 to 5, white or pinkish white or buff white, speckled all over with 

 brown, occasionally showing a few blotches at the larger end; size 

 about .95 X .71 inches. 



