86 PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA No. 9 



to my collection and was identified as schistacca by Mr. Joseph Grinnell, of the 

 University of California. This was recorded in The Condor, xiii, 191 1, p. 76. 



Kadiak Fox vSparrow. Passereila iliaca insularis Ridgway. 



This is the largest of our sparrows, and in the field appears at times but lit- 

 tle smaller than the California Towhee. It comes to us a little later than the host 

 of sparrows that winter in the San Joaquin Valley, and does not reach the high 

 tide of its abundance until the month of December. Even then it is at no time 

 abundant, and soon begins to decrease in numbers. Fox sparrows of all kinds 

 are rare after the first of the year. I have a specimen of this fine bird, taken 

 near Clovis, December 26, 1910. 



A fox sparrovv^ collected by Joseph Sloanaker near Raisin on C'ctober 13, 

 i()io, was identified by Mr. Grinnell as "nieriiloidcs," a form not recognized, as 

 yet, by the American Ornithologists Union. 



There is no more interesting group of birds than these large, richly colored 

 sparrows, and the writer hopes to become more intimately acquainted with them:. 



California Brown Towhee. Pipilo crissalis crissalis (Vigors).* 



Brown Towhees occur in varying numbers over much of the higher, more 

 dry, portions of the region about Fresno, being very scarce or entirely v/anting in 

 the swampy and treeless areas. Brush and various low-growing shrubs, with 

 occasional trees, form the ideal habitat of this species ; so it is not surprising to 

 find its center of abundance along the larger canals and at the outlets of the foot- 

 hill creeks along the eastern part of this district. 



Kearney Park, with its wonderful variety of trees and bushes, forms an ideal 

 retreat, where the towhees are never molested, and where the species is repre- 

 sented in greater numbers than in all other parts of this district combined. Gar- 

 dens and orchards are favorite resorts, but vineyards are shunned along with aii 

 the more open tracts. 



The bulky horse-hair-lined nests are usually constructed in thick bushes or 

 trees, from three to eight feet above the ground, a favorite site being a bunch of 

 small second-growth shoots at the top of a willow stump. 



The usual complement of eggs is four, but 1 have found several sets of but 

 three, and in at least three different instances the birds began the duties of in- 

 cubation with just two eggs to their credit. The sets of two were in each case the 

 first ones laid, so far as I could determine. May and June are the nesting months, 

 my earliest record being May i ( 1906) for considerably incubated eggs. A set 

 well along in incubation was found June 30 of the same year, while all other 

 dates have fallen between these two extremes. 



The towhees are big, good-natured fellows, in no way injurious to man's in- 

 terests, while they, like other sparrows, render valuable service by gleaning from 

 the ground much that might prove harmful to agriculturists. 



San Dmc.o Towhee. Pipilo maculatus megaloiiyx Baird. 



The ornithologist is often hard pressed by his friends, especially by those 

 who do not make any claim to knowledge along this line, to find satisfactory ex- 

 planations for some of the seeming inconsistencies that occur among the common 



*This name is used in accordance with the A. O. U. Check-List. Possibly our tow- 

 lice may be referable to the form senicula (see Grinnell, Condor, xiv, 1912, p. 199). 



