458 SYSTEMATIC SVyOPSIS. — PASSERES - OSCINES. 



12.00; wing 3.20-3.90; tail 3.35-4.00; tarsus 1.00-]. 12; but these extremes are rare; aver- 

 age length 8.00; extent 11.25; ^^ing 3.75; tail 4.50. 9: Eich warm brown where the 

 male is black; otherwise similar, but smaller. Very young birds are streaked brown and 

 dusky above, below whitish tinged with brown and streaked with dusky ; but this plumage is 

 of brief duration; sexual distinctions may be noted in birds just from the nest, and they rapidly 

 become much like the adults. Eastern U. S. and adjoining parts of the British Provinces ; N. 

 to Canada, Manitoba, and N Dakota, where meetixig (ircticus ; W. To Kansas, and in Missouri 

 River region to about 43°. Northerly perfectly migratory ; winters from middle U. S. south- 

 ward ; breeds nearly throughout its range. An abundant and familiar inhabitant of thickets, 

 undergrowth, and briery tracts, spending much of its time on the ground, scratching among 

 fallen leaves. Nest on the ground, bulky, of leaves, grasses, and other fibrous material ; eggs 

 4-5, 0.95 X 0.70, white, thickly speckled with reddish. The curious names " Towhee," 

 " Joree," and "Chowink" arc from its cry; "Ground Robin" from its haunts and the chest- 

 nut of the sides. 



P. e. al'leni. (To J. A. Allen, the eminent naturalist.) White-eyed Towhee Bunting. 

 Similar; smaller; less white on wings and tail; claws longer; iris yellowish- white. ^, ex- 

 tremes: Length 7.25-8.50 ; extent 9.50-11.55; wing 2.80-3.50 ; tail 3.25-4.00; tarsus 0.80- 

 1.10; average length 7.90 ; extent 9.90; wing 3.12; tail 3.50; tail relatively longer than in 

 northern specimens, producing less diflFerence in total length than there is in length and ex- 

 tent of wings. White on outer tail-feather about as much as on next feather of erythroph- 

 thalmus. Florida ; resident ; a local race. 



[P. macula'tus. (Lat. macula/us, spotted.) Olive-black Spotted Towhee. A Mexican species, with extensively 

 olivaceous coloration and streaked back, into wliich the following three subspecies are supposed to shade imperceptibly, — 

 oregonus being furthest removed and most like eri/l/iropktkalmus, arcticus, and megalonyi successively nearing the Mex- 

 ican stock-form.] 



P. m. orego'uus. (To the Territory of the Oregon.) Oregon Towhee. $ : Very similar 

 to erythrophthohnns ; (juite as black, but not continuously so ; chestnut of sides dark; wing- 

 coverts with small rounded, and scapulars with larger oval, white spots on outer webs near 

 end. (Interscapulars sometimes also with white touches ?) White marks on primaries and inner 

 secondaries very small or wanting, usually none at bases of the former ; white spots on tail- 

 feathers very small ; outer web of outer rectrix not white except at end ; greatest extent of 

 white on tail 1.00 or less. Excepting these particulars, this form looks more like erythroph- 

 thalmus than like typical muculatus, in which the body colors are olivaceous. ? dark umber- 

 brown, but not quite blackish. About the same size as erythrophthalmus ; but averaging rather 

 less; J, wing 3.40; tail 3.90; tarsus 1.10; culmen 0.54. Pacific coast region, N. to British 

 Columbia, S. to Southern California, melting eastward into arcticus, southeastward into 

 meyalony.T. 



P. m. arc'ticus. (Lat. arcticus, arctic.) Arctic Towhee. Similar to the foregoing; less 

 purely and continuously black, with tendency to olivaceous on back and rump ; white spots of 

 wing-coverts larger, those of scapulars still larger and lengthening into streaks ; interscapulars 

 also streaked with white; white on rpiills and tail-feathers at a maximum, as in erythrophthal- 

 mus ; usually, also, concealed white specks in black of throat. ? comparatively dark, but 

 not quite blackish. In this form, the white on the wing-quills and tail-feathers, so much re- 

 duced in the glossy black oregonus, is as extensive as in erythrophthalmus ; but the wing- 

 coverts, scapulars, and interscapulars are fully marked with white; the black tends to olive, at 

 least on rump, and the 9 is not feirly brown. The dimensions do not diftcr appreciably from 

 those of oregonus. Central region of N. Am., from limit of erytlirophthalmus in Kansas, Ne- 

 bra.ska, and Dakota, to that oi oregonus in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia; N. in 

 summer to the region of the Saskatchewan ; S. in winter to Texas ; in the S. Rocky Mt. region 

 melting into megalonyx. 



