RUFOUS-SIDED TOWHEE 577 



the commonest victims in New York by Eaton; in Connecticut by Sage; in Ohio 

 by Jones; in Indiana by Evermann; in Iowa by Anderson, etc. The Towhee 

 is one of the larger of the common victims of the Cowbird, and with none of its 

 dupes is the latter more uniformly successful. Larger numbers of parasitic eggs 

 have been reported from single nests of this species than from any other bird, 

 and there is not one case on record of a Towhee covering up, or in any way trying 

 to get rid of the strange eggs. The highest record is a nest containing eight eggs 

 of the Cowbird together with five of the Towhee, a set taken in northern Iowa, 

 and now in the collection of Mr. R. M. Barnes. Sanborn and Geolitz (Wilson 

 Bull. XXVII no. 4, Dec. 1915, p. 444), record a nest of this species. May 14, 

 1914, Lake County, Illinois, with one egg of its own and eight of the Cowbird. 

 A similar set, one and eight of the parasite, is recorded in the Oologist XXXI, 

 no. 6, June 15, 1914, p. 119. There are also instances of five, four and three eggs 

 of the Cowbird in single nests. 



About a hundred and eighty definite records have come to my notice, ranging 

 from New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania, south to West Virginia, and west 

 to Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Iowa. 



Friedmann (1938) also adds the Nevada cowbird to the Hst of 

 parasites of the species. 



F. W. Davis writes me: "Cowbirds were common on all our study 

 areas before, dm'ing, and after the towhee nesting period, but their 

 incidence of parasitism seems comparatively low. Of 81 towhee 

 nests found during the course of the study, only 4, or slightly less 

 than 5 per cent, were victimized, each to the extent of 1 egg per nest. 

 Our data are not adequate to show any effect of cowbird parasitism 

 on the towhee's nesting success." 



Banding records. — Longevity records based on bandings indicate 

 that 4-6 years is not an uncommonly long life span for this species. 

 M. T. Cooke (1950) notes an individual that was banded Mar. 21, 

 1937, and retrapped Dec. 16, 1944, and Mar. 3, 1946. This bird 

 was at least 10 years old when released the last time. An outstanding 

 record of movement is that of Marie V. Beals (1939) of a female 

 banded Oct. 5, 1937, at Elmhurst, N. Y., and killed Apr. 29, 1938, 

 at Crystal River, Fla. 



Distribution 



Red-eyed Towhee (P. e. erythrophthalmus) 



Range. — Southern Manitoba, Great Lakes area, and northern New 

 England south to southern Texas and the Gulf states. 



Breeding range. — The red-eyed towhee breeds from southern 

 Manitoba (Treesbank, Winnipeg), northern Minnesota (Duluth), 

 northern Wisconsin, northern Michigan (Isle Royale, McMillan), 

 southern Ontario (Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay, Ottawa), northern 

 New York, northern Vermont (Burlington, St. Johnsbury), central 

 New Hampshire (Ossipee), and southwestern Maine (Norway, 

 Christmas Cove) south to central northern and northeastern Okla- 

 homa (Nash, Tulsa), northern Arkansas (Winslow, Ravenden), 



