CANYON BROWN TOWHEE 625 



tells of a nest made of plant stems bearing yellow flowers, he thought 

 of the mustard family, "forming a gay golden garland." He also 

 mentions yucca tresses as nesting sites. A. W. Anthony (1892) 

 lists cholla cactus and yucca as favorite nesting sites. 



Eggs. — C. E. Bendire (1890) gives the following description of the 

 eggs: 



The eggs are usually three in number; about one nest in ten contains four; 

 occasionally I have found the bird sitting hard on but two, probably a second or 

 third brood. * * * 



The ground color of the eggs of the Canon Towhee is a very pale bluish white, 

 or very light pearl gray, scared}' an egg in a series of one hundred and three 

 specimens can be called pure white. As far as markings are concerned, these 

 eggs can be divided into two types. In one the spots are sharp, well defined, 

 occasionally connected with each other by lines and scrawls, and principally 

 concentrated about the larger end. Their color is a very deep brown, almost a 

 black. This pattern includes the less heavily marked specimens. In the second 

 type, the markings are less clearly defined, more irregular in shape, mere blotches, 

 and much more profuse. The color is less deep, more of a claret brown or vina- 

 ceous rufous. In addition fine shell markings of lavender and hehotrope purple 

 are scattered more or less profusely over the entire egg in both types. The eggs 

 bear a certain resemblance to those of Stumella, especially to heavily marked 

 specimens of the western race, Stumella magna negleda. Nearly all the eggs of 

 Pipilo fuscus mesoleucus are much more heavily marked than those of the other 

 two races, aside from the racial difference of the ground color, which is also more 

 lustrous. In a series of one hundred and tliree specimens before me, all but eleven 

 collected by myself, there is considerable difference both in size and shape. The 

 eggs are mostly ovate, some elliptical ovate. The average size of the series before 

 me is .92 x .69 inch. The largest egg measures 1.04 x .71, the smallest .81 x .66 

 inch, and a runt egg of this species in the collection measures but .70 x .56 inch. 



W. G. F. Harris adds: "This subspecies usually lays three or four 

 ovate or short ovate eggs, sometimes only two or as many as five and 

 less frequently sLx. They are slightly glossy. The ground is very 

 pale greenish or creamy white, with markings of very dark brown and 

 black with under spots of 'light Quaker drab,' or 'light mouse gray.' 

 These markings are in the form of speckles, spots, scrawls, or scrib- 

 blings rather sparingly scattered over the entire egg, but more numer- 

 ous toward the large end where frequently a loose wreath may be 

 formed. The eggs with the creamy white gi'ound usually are spotted 

 ^\ath dark browns such as 'liver brown,' 'Carob brown,' or 'Hessian 

 brown,' and black vnih. a few spots of gray; those ■with the greenish 

 white grounds tend to be marked almost entirely with black and gray 

 undermarkings wath only an occasional spot of very dark brown such 

 as 'chestnut brown.' Many eggs are marked only with spots or small 

 blotches of the grays with a few spots or scrawls of black. The meas- 

 urements of 50 eggs average 23.4 by 17.5 millimeters; the eggs showing 

 the four extremes measure 26.9 by 16.8, 25.4 by 18.8, 20.6 by 16.8, 

 and 20.8 by 15.2 millimeters." 



