The Arctic Towhee {PipUo Maculatus ArcUcus) 



By I. N. Michell 



The Arctic, or Northern, Towhee is a bird of high altitudes and latitudes. Its 

 breeding range is somewhat restricted, including the plains of the Platte, upon 

 Missouri, Yellowstone and Saskatchewan rivers and the regions westward to the 

 eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains. In the winter it passes southward, finally 

 reaching the state of Texas. Throughout its range it frequents streams and 

 shores that are bordered with bushy underbrush. In some localities, as in the 

 valley of the Great Slave Lake, this species is very abundant. 



"The Arctic Towhee appears in the vicinity of Idaho Springs about the 

 middle of May and in the course of a week or two becomes rather common, though 

 never very abundant. It becomes rare above 8.500 feet, and above 9,000 feet dis- 

 appears altogether, being most numerous from 7,500 feet down to the plains. In 

 habits and appearance it is quite similar to the eastern towhee, but is much shyer 

 and is easily frightened, when it hides in the bushes until all appearance of dan- 

 ger has passed by. It utters the 'chewink' of the eastern towhee, or a note almost 

 exactly like it, though a little lower and more wiry." 



The towhees obtain a large share of their food by scratching among the 

 fallen leaves that lie upon the ground under the underbrush that they frequent. 

 The Arctic towhee will respond to a Avhistled call, though it is not as inquisitive 

 as the eastern species. 



Its nest is placed on the ground, in a slight depression scratched out by the 

 bird, and is usually under the protecting shadows of shrubs. The nest, the rim 

 of which is flush with the ground, is "strongly built of bark strips, blades of dry 

 grass, and usually lined with yellow straw." 



Enormous Number of Robins 



The immense concourses of passenger pigeons, remembered by manv now 

 living and so graphically described by Wilson, Audubon, and other early or- 

 nithologists, are common knowledge. But that the robins of America are today 

 far more numerous than the passenger pigeons ever were, and that many other 

 species outnumber them also — perhaps three to one — is not generally appreciated. 

 The gregariousness of the pigeons, causing them to unite in a few great flocks, 

 made the number much more manifest than do the scattered small bands and 

 individuals of other birds. Yet when we reflect that robins nest over an area 

 extending at its farthest limits from Mexico to the Arctic ocean and from the 

 Atlantic to the Pacific, and that in much of this vast territory they are fairly 

 crowded, it is easy to conjecture what an immeasurable army they would make 

 if gathered into one flock. — Henry Oldys in "Bird-Lore." 



898 



