310 FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC. 



sound. Then perhaps from some dusky thicket a bird's song ! An 

 emotional outburst rising full-toned and clear, and passing all too 

 quickly to a closing cadence, which seems to linger in the silent air. 

 It is the song of the Fox Sparrow with that fuller power and richness ^ 

 of tone which come into it, or seem to, at the sunset hour. It breaks 

 forth as if inspired from pure joy in the awakened season, though with 

 some vague undertone, scarcely of sadness, rather of some lower tone 

 of joy. Eugene P. Bicknell. 



587. Pipilo erythrophthalmus {Linn.). Towhee ; Chewink ; 



JoKEE. Ad. (5 . — Upper parts black, sometimes margined with rufous ; throat 

 and breast black, belly white, sides rufous ; outer web of primaries mostly 

 white ; tail black, the three outer feathers tipped with white ; outer web of 

 the outer feather entirely white ; iris red. Ad. 9 .—Upper parts, wings, throat, 

 and breast bright grayish brown ; tail fuscous, the three outer feathers tipped 

 with white ; sides rufous, middle of the belly white. You7ig in first plum- 

 age have the back and under parts streaked with black. L., 8"35 ; W., 3-34 ; 

 T., 3-68 ; B., -55. 



Range. — Eastern North America ; breeds from the lower Mississippi Val- 

 ley and Georgia northward to Maine, Ontario, and Manitoba ; winters from 

 Virginia to Florida. 



Washington, common S. K., very common T. V., Apl. 15 to May 15 ; Sept. 

 to Oct. 15; a few winter. Sing Sing, common S. E., Apl. 21 to Oct. 31. 

 Cambridge, common S. E., Apl. 25 to Oct. 15. 



Nest, externally of dead leaves and strips of bark, lined with fine grasses, 

 on or near the ground. Eggs., four to five, white, finely and evenly speckled 

 with shades of rufous, sometimes blotched at the larger end, -96 x -71. 



There is a vigorousness about the Towhee's notes and actions which 

 suggests both a bustling, energetic disposition and a good constitu- 

 tion. He entirely dominates the thicket or bushy undergrowth in 

 which he makes his home. The dead leaves fly before his attack; his 

 white-tipped tail-feathers flash in the gloom of his haunts. He greets 

 all passers with a brisk, inquiring chewink, towhee, and if you pause 

 to reply, with a fluff-fluff of his short, rounded wings he flies to a near- 

 by limb to better inspect you. 



It is only when singing that the Towhee is fully at rest. Then a 

 change comes over him ; he is in love, and, mounting a low branch, 

 he gives voice to his passion in song. I have long tried to express 

 the Towhee's song in words, but never succeeded as well as Ernest 

 Thompson when he wrote it chuck-burr, pill-a-will-a-will-a. 



587a. P. e. alleni Coues. White-eyed Towhee ; Joree. — Similar to 

 the preceding, but with less white on the wings and tail ; only two outer tail- 

 feathers tipped with white ; iris yellowish or white. L., 8-00 ; W., 3-20 ; T., 

 3-60 ; B., -52. 



Range,— YlonAvL ; northward along the coast to southern South Carolina. 



I 



