6o 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



OREGON TOWHEE 

 Pipilo maculatus oregonus Bell 



A. O. U. Number 588b 



Other Name. — Spotted Towhee. 



General Description. — Length, 8 inches. Fore and 

 upper parts, black ; under parts, white and brownish. 

 Wings, rather short and much rounded ; tail, longer 

 than wing, rounded, the feathers broad with compact 

 webs and rounded tips ; feet, stout. 



Color. — Adult Male: Head, neck, and chest, black, 

 the throat with a white spot, and, very rarely, the back 

 of head streaked with rufous; upper parts, black; 

 middle and greater wing-coverts tipped with white, 

 forming two spots; three to four outer tail-feathers 

 with small terminal spaces of white, chiefly on inner 

 webs; the outermost tail-feathers with the outer web 

 edged with white ; breast and abdomen, white ; sides 

 and flanks, cinnamon-rufous occasionally with dusky 



spots or bars ; anal region and under tail-coverts, paler 

 cinnamon-tawny or ochraceous buff; bill, black. Adult 

 Female: Similar to adult male, but throat and chest 

 dark sooty brown or sooty black ; general color of 

 upper parts, dark sooty brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest ; In ground, rim sunk flush 

 with the surface, usually near streams ; a strong, well 

 built structure of bark strips, grass, or pine needles, 

 lined with grass. Eggs: 4 or S, very pale greenish 

 white, covered with spots and specks of chestnut and 

 lavender. 



Distribution. — Coast district of southern British 

 Columbia, Vancouver Island, Washington, Oregon, 

 and California, south to San Francisco Bay; winters 

 south to southern California. 



The group of Tovvhees, known as Spotted To- 

 whees, and of which the Oregon Towhee is a 

 member, are found in western United States and 

 Mexico among the chaparral. They are very 

 shy and simply refuse to stay where they can be 

 observed; just as you hear one sing and catch 

 sight of him on the top of a bush, he sees you 

 and down he drops to the ground and starts 

 scratching among the leaves under the bushes. 



In southern California, in the coast district, and 

 south into Lower California, is found the San 



Diego Towhee {Pipilo maculatus mcgalonyx). 

 It is a deep glossy black with heavy white mark- 

 ings on the wings. The Arctic Towhee ( Pipilo 

 maculatus arcficus) has extensive white markings 

 on both wings and tail and its shoulders are 

 heavily streaked with white ; it breeds in the 

 plains and among the foothills of the Rockies 

 from southern Alberta to west central Montana 

 and northwestern Nebraska and winters from 

 eastern Colorado and southern Nebraska to 

 southern Texas. The Spurred Towhee (Pipilo 



Drawing by R. Bruce Horsfall 



OREGON TOWHEE (i nat. size) 

 A scratcher among the fallen leaves 



