124 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



dead leaves, which they greatly resemble in color. This resemblance Dr. 

 Cooper regards as a great protection to them from Hawks ; their hues also 

 correspond with those of the earth and the dusky foliage during most of the 

 year. They are thus less conspicuous in the light, and they venture more 

 fearlessly forth and feed in open grounds. 



They have but little song, and only utter a few faint chirps and hurried 

 notes, as they sit perched upon some low bush, in the spring. At San Diego 

 Dr. Cooper saw the first nest with eggs on April 17, but some birds had laid 

 much earlier, as he found young hatched by the 20th. He afterwards observed 

 other nests, all of which were built in bushes, from two to four feet from the 

 ground, and all but one contained three eggs ; the other had four. He has 

 found them built in low trees, and one in a vine growing over the porch of a 

 house. The nest is formed of coarse twigs, bark, and grass, is thick and 

 large, and is lined wdth fine root-fibres and finer grasses. The eggs are pale 

 blue, spotted with purplish-brown blotches, mostly small and scattered. He 

 gives the measurement of tlie eggs as .90 by .65 of an inch. In the more 

 northern part of the State they are said to lay four eggs oftener than three. 

 They are supposed by him to have two broods in a season. 



Colonel McCall has no doubt that they are found throughout California, 

 as he has met with them from the upper waters of the Sacramento to the 

 mouth of the Gila ; tlie former having its origin in the extreme north, and 

 the latter touching tlie extreme southern boundary of the State. It is most 

 abundant south of Santa Barbara. 



Colonel McCall states that its habits and manners differ somewhat from 

 those of the common Towhee and the Arctic Finches. Its flight is more 

 even and regular, and is without that violent jerking of the tail from side to 

 side, which gives such a singular appearance of awkwardness to the move- 

 ments of the Towhee. It is less shy and suspicious than the Arctic. It is 

 also much less decidedly a Ground Finch than either of the others. Its fa- 

 vorite abode he found to be the vicinity of watercourses, wliere it is gener- 

 ally to be seen in pairs, though he has, at times, surprised eight or ten 

 togetlier under the shade of a large bush at noon in a summer day, when he 

 has had no difficulty in procuring three or four specimens before the party 

 dispersed. It is at all times a familiar bird, boldly coming into the roads to 

 feed, and permitting a close approach. If compelled to retreat, it darts sud- 

 denly into the thicket, but returns as soon as the cause of alarm has disap- 

 peared. Near Santa Barbara he found thirty or forty of tliese birds, in the 

 month ot July, dispersed over an old field of some five acres in extent, con- 

 tiguous to a sea-beach, through which flowed a small stream of fresh water. 

 Tliey were feeding on the ground, sheltered by a rank growth of weeds. 

 "When one was flushed it flew into a neighboring tree instead of seeking 

 shelter again in the weeds. The young at that time were fully fledged, and 

 scarcely differed in the color of their plumage from the adults. 



Dr. Heermann once met with a nest of this bird built in a grapevine over- 



