CONSPICUOUSLY BLACK AND WHITE 395 
Adult Female: Similar to male, but dark sooty brown in place of black 
on head, neck, chest, and upper parts ; sides deep reddish brown. 
Young : Upper parts almost uniform dark brown; throat and chest 
dusky ; neck streaked; under parts dark buffy. 
Geographical Distribution: Pacific coast, from Southern California to 
British Columbia. 
California Breeding Range: Humid coast belt as far south as San 
Francisco. 
Breeding Season: May. 
Nest: Of grasses and leaves; lined with finer grasses ; placed on the 
ground or in bushes and stumps. 
Eggs: 4 or 5; pinkish white or pale greenish, thickly speckled with 
cinnamon-brown. Size 0.94 X 0.70. 
Tue Oregon Towhee which, south of Mendocino 
County, Mr. Grinnell has listed as the San Francisco 
Towhee, differs only slightly from the latter, but has a 
more restricted range in California. In habits it re- 
sembles the common towhee. 
The usual nesting site of this species is on the ground, 
in a tangle of ferns or grasses well shaded under low 
bushes ; when, however, the proximity of enemies renders 
a ground nest dangerous, the birds wisely choose the top 
of a stump hidden among vines, or the thick branches of 
bushes. The same locality is sought by them year after 
year. | 
In the deep woods where the California partridge 
nests, it is not unusual to find the eggs of that game bird 
in the nest of the Oregon Towhee. Mr. Cohen, of Ala- 
meda, records one Towhee nest four feet from the ground 
on a live-oak stub and containing four Towhee eggs and 
fifteen eggs of the partridge. Another recorded by him 
was on the ground, and contained three eggs of the 
Towhee and eighteen of the partridge. The Towhee 
abandoned the nest after six partridge eggs were laid, 
