70 TOWilEE. 



Genus. GROUND BUNTINGS. Pipilo. 



Large birds, ovor eight inches long, of a rather slender form. 

 Bill, thick. Feet large. Wings, shorter than the rounded 

 tail, which is conspicuously marked with white. Sexes dis- 

 similar. We have one species. 



Towhee. 



Pipilo ertthrofthalmus. 

 Plate XVI. Fig. 2. 



Male. All of head and neck and upper parts black. There 

 is a small spot of white at the base of the primaries, some of 

 the feathers are edged with it, and there are four pairs of 

 outer tail feathers which are broadly marked with white. Be- 

 neath white, with band along sides, and under tail coverts, 

 blight reddish brown. Bill, black ; iris red ; feet brown. 



Female has the black represented by dull reddish brown. 

 Young have the white markings less extended, and the fe- 

 males are more reddish. Nestlings resemble the young fe- 

 males, are streaked above and below with dusky, and the iris 

 is bluish white. 



Dimensions. Length, 8.04: ; stretch, 11.35; wing, 3.50 ; 

 tail, 3.76 ; bill, .60 ; tarsus.. 1.02. 



Comparisons. We have no other member of the family 

 which has the tail so strongly marked with white, and with so 

 much chestnut or reddish brovrn on the sides. 



Nests and Eggs. Nests placed on the ground. They are 

 shallow, saucer- shaped structures, composed of grass, leaves, 

 and strips of bark, loosely arranged, and lined with fine grass. 

 External diameter is about three and a half inches; depth two. 



