122 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



spots. Whole breast white. Wing, 3.80; tail, 4.30. Hah. 

 Southern Middle Province of United States. . x&v. mesoleucus 



4. The ochraceous of under parts confined to crissum and anal 

 region ; ochraceous of the throat palest posteriorly, where it is 

 nearly white, and confined within the encircling series of rather 

 coalesced dusky spots. Abdomen, only, white. Wing, 3.80 ; tail, 



4.20. Hob. Cape St. Lucas var. alhigula. 



B. Middle coverts distinctly, and greater obsoletely, tipped with white. 

 Throat white crossed by an ochraceous band. 



5. Crown without a trace of rufous. Dusky spots surrounding the 

 white gular patch, coalesced posteriorly into a narrow crescent. 

 Whole breast and abdomen white, somewhat broken anteriorly. 

 Flanks and lower tail-coverts ochraceous. Wing, 3.30 ; tail, 3.70. 



Hab. Mexico i . . (var.?) alhicollis? 



Pipilo fuscus, var. crissalis, Vigors. 



BROWN TOWHEE ; CANON FINCH. 



Pipilo fusca, Cassix, Illust. I, iv, 1853, 124, pi. xvii (the figure seems to be of the Califor- 

 nia species, the description more like mcsoleucus). — Newberry, Zool. Cal. & Or. 

 Route, Rep. P. R. R. VI, iv, 1857, 89. Kicncria fusca, Bonap. Comptes Rendus, XL, 

 1855, 356. Frinqilla crissalis. Vigors, Zool. Blossom, 1839, 19. Oriturus wrangeli, 

 . Brandt, Bonap. Comp. Rend. 43, 1856, 413. Pipilo fuscus, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 

 517. — Heerm. X, ,S', 51 (nest). — Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 245. 



Sp. Char. Above dark olive-brown, the crown with a very slight tinge of scarcely 

 appreciable dark rufous. Under parts with the color somewhat similar, but of a lighter 



P. mesoleucus would be a difficult matter ; while the first one expresses the peculiar characters 

 of crissalis more nearly than any other. The statement of " white beneath," without any 

 qualification, applies better to mesoleucus than to others, but the " pale rufous tinge " observable 

 in crissalis and fuscus is very different from the abruptly defined chestnut cap of mesoleucus. 



Pipilo fuscus, SwAlNsoN, Phil. Mag. I, 1827, 434. " Gray, beneath paler ; throat obscure 

 fulvous, with brown spots ; vent ferruginous. Length, 8.00 ; bill, .70 ; wings, 3.50 ; tail, 4.00 ; 

 tarsi, .90 ; hind toe and claw, .70." Hab. Table land ; Tenuscalte])ec. 



Pipilo fuscus, SwAiNSON, Anini. in Men. 1838, 347. "Grayish -brown above ; beneath white ; 

 chin and throat fulvous, with dusky spots ; under tail-coverts fulvous ; tail blackish-brown, 

 unspotted. Bill and legs pale, the latter smaller, and the claws more curved than in any other 

 known species ; crown with a pale rufous tinge. Length, 7.50 ; wings, 3.50 ; tail, 4.00 ; tarsus, 

 ,90 ; middle toe and claw the same ; hinder toe, .65. Rather smaller than maculata." 



^ Pipilo albicoliis, Sclater. Above uniform olivaceous-brown ; the cap not diff"erently colored. 

 Lores, chin, and throat white, the two last bordered and defined by dusky spots ; jugulum and 

 breast white, the former clouded with olivaceous, and with a dusky blotch in middle ; middle of 

 throat crossed hy an olivaceous band which curves round on each side under the eai--coverts ; sides 

 grayish. Flanks behind, anal region, and crissum, rufous. Middle wing-coverts with a whitish 

 bar across their tips. Fourth and fifth quills longest ; first shorter than ninth and secondaries. 

 Length, 7.00; wing, 3.30; taih 3.70. Bill and legs light. Hab. Central Mexico. 



This "species" may fairly be considered as one extreme of the series of which P. crissalis is 

 the other ; and diff"ers from the rest merely in a greater amount of white, and the absence of 

 rufous tinge on top of head. The fulvous of throat is concentrated in a band across its middle 

 portion, leaving chin and lower throat white ; this, however, is foi-eshadowed in the paler chin of 

 mesoleucus, and the whitish lower throat of albigula. The uniformity of coloring above is nearly 

 equalled by that of P. crissalis. The wldtish band across the middle wing-coverts is the most 

 positive character. 



