FINCHES 



6i 



imiciilatiis iiioiitiDitis), distributed from British 

 Cokuiibia south into Mexico and from eastern 

 Cahfornia to Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, 

 and \\'estern Texas, and tiie San Clemente To- 

 whee (PipUo iiiaciilatiis clivucut(r), found on the 

 San Clemente and other islands of southern Cali- 

 fornia, have the white markings much restricted. 

 These Towhees are not numerous enough to 

 inflict any great damage, no matter what their 

 habits. Should thev become very abtmdant they 

 very likely would injure fruit, but they seem 

 so shy and retiring that the more the country 

 is cleared and put under cultivation the more 

 likely they are to become rare. 



About three-quarters of their food consists of 

 vegetable matter. Fruit forms about i8 per 

 cent, and is probably almost entirely wild or 

 waste, drain averages 4 ]icr cent, for the vear 

 with the largest amount eaten after the harvest- 

 ing season. Weed seed occupies the chief place 

 iin their menu and forms nearly 35 per cent, of 

 their food for the year. 



.Apparently these Towhees do not care for 

 grasshoppers as they form less than 2 per cent. 

 of their food for the year and are eaten very 

 irregularly. Weevils, tree-boring beetles, ants, 

 wasps, bees, and the black olive scale make up 

 most of their animal food. 



CANON TOWHEE 

 Pipilo fuscus mesoleucus Baird 



A. O. U. 



Other Names. — Fuscous Towhee ; Brown Chippy; 

 Canon liuntnig. 



General Description, — Length, 9,':! inches. Upiier 

 parts, brown ; under parts, white, brown, and black. 

 Wings, rather short and much rounded ; tail, longer 

 than wing, rounded, the feathers broad with compact 

 webs and rounded tips ; feet, stout. 



Color. — Adults : Above, hair-brown or pale grayish 

 sepia-brown, the crown distinctly ruddy, inclining to 

 cinnamon ; middle and greater wing-coverts and upper 

 tail-coverts, usually narrowly and indistinctly tipped 

 with paler ; wings and tail-feathers with the general 

 color darker, clearer, and less brown than other por- 

 tions; side of head, mainly colored like back, etc., but 

 with pale buffy or dull whitish markings ; cheek region, 

 chin, and throat, pinkisli buff ( deejier in winter, paler 

 in summer i)iumage), tlie first flecked with dusky, the 



nearly (sometimes quite) immaculate throat area sur- 

 rounded by rather large triangular spots or streaks 

 of black; center portion of breast and abdomen, white; 

 sides of breast, sides, and flanks, brown (paler than 

 back) ; anal regions and under tail-coverts, cinnamon 

 or cinnamon-tawny ; iris, brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Located in thickets or 

 small mesquite trees, near ground, usually within 10 

 feet, sometimes in dense clumps of cholla or between 

 yucca leaves ; deep, large, but loosely constructed of 

 coarse .grass, lined with fine roots and horse- or cow- 

 hair. Eggs : 3, speckled, scratched and scrawled with 

 brown, black, or lavender. 



Distribution. — Arid districts of Arizona, southern 

 and eastern New Mexico, western Texas, eastern 

 Colorado, and southwestern Colorado, south to north- 

 eastern Sonora and northwestern Chihuahua. 



The Canon or Fuscous Tcnvhees form a numer- 

 ous species that is distinguished by their fluiTy 

 brown Sparrow-like appearance. To the Fast- 

 erner there seems to be less of the Towhee and 

 more of the brown Sparrow about this common 

 dooryard friend of the southwest. It is often 

 called the Brown Chippy from the very j^ersist- 

 ence of the loud metallic chip, whether heard in 

 the streets of towns or out in the dense chaparral 

 and scrub bushes that line the mountain canons. 

 The flight song is a Robin-like scrcep'-ecp-eep, 

 and it has another squeaky but quiet and con- 

 tented song. In the canons at dusk a dozen or 

 more of the Canon Towhees sing this song in 

 concert and the effect is like an evening hymn 

 in a temple to nature's God. 



There are many varieties of the Fuscous Tow- 



hee. The typical one is the Brown Towhee of 

 the Pacific slope of central Mexico. Throughout 

 California the variety is there known as the 

 California Towhee or Crissal Bunting (Pipilo 

 crissalis crissalis) , the main distinction appearing 

 to be a deeper colored head than the more east- 

 ern bird. Ridgway has seen enough dififerences 

 in them to make the California Towhee a sepa- 

 rate species, but Mrs. Bailey prefers to know 

 them as mere varieties of the Fuscous Towhee. 

 The Anthony Towhee (Pipilo crissalis scnicula) 

 of southern California is surely but a variety of 

 the California, having darker upper parts and 

 grayer lower parts. 



\Micrever foimd, the Fuscous Towhee has no 

 fear of man, and when the breeding season comes 

 the gloomy canons resound with his songs. 



