OREGON BROWN TOWHEE 603 



PIPILO FUSCUS BULLATUS GrinneU and Swarth 



Oregon BrowTi Towhee 



PLATE 33 



Contributed by Henry E. Childs, Jr. 



Habits 



This, the northernmost subspecies of the brown towhee, is limited 

 to the chaparral areas of southwestern Oregon and northern Siskiyou 

 County, Calif. In California, John Davis (1951) states it is resident 

 "north of the yellow pine-Douglas fir belt rimming the northern end 

 of the Sacramento Valley, and between the Cascade Range to the 

 east and the Trinity Mountains and theu- northern continuation to 

 the west." In Oregon, Ira N. Gabrielson and Stanley G. Jewett 

 (1940) consider it "a characteristic bird of the bushy hillsides in the 

 interior valleys of Douglas, Jackson, and Josephine Counties. There 

 in the lowlands between the Coast and Cascade Ranges in the Umpqua 

 and Rogue watersheds its characteristic metallic alarm note can be 

 heard throughout the year." In the early 1900's it was found con- 

 siderably north of its present range near CorvaUis, Oreg., where it 

 no longer occurs. 



The same authors state: "Patterson (MS.) has found numerous 

 nests about Ashland and Pinehurst with extreme dates of May 2 and 

 20." They describe the nest as "In bushes and trees, usually within 

 a few feet of the ground, made of inner bark, twigs, and weed stems 

 and lined with plant stems, wool, and hair. Eggs: 4 or 5, pale blue, 

 spotted with purplish brown." 



Distribution 



Bange. — The Oregon brown towhee is resident in the Umpqua 

 River and Rogue River valleys of southwestern Oregon (Roseburg, 

 Takilme, Ashland) and the Klamath River and Shasta valleys of 

 north-central Cahfornia (Berwick, Hornbrook, Edgewood). 



PIPILO FUSCUS CAROLAE McGregor 



Sacramento Brown Towhee 

 Contributed by Henry E. Guilds, Jr. 



Habits 



In the dry foothills of the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada, the 

 valley quail is the only bird more conspicuous in the brushland avi- 

 fauna than the brown towhee. The principal use of this land area 

 is for grazing, and the white-face Herefords contrast markedly with 



