GROSBEAKS, FINCHES, SPARROWS: Family Frinyllidae [553] 



Deschutes Basin, Suckley (Cooper and Suckley 1860) included them from 

 Fort Dalles, and Baird (Baird, Cassin, and Lawrence 1858) listed a speci- 

 men from Fort Dalles, Columbia River, May 2.7, 1835. ^ tn ^ s l ast> 

 mentioned bird really came from The Dalles, it is undoubtedly the first 

 skin of this race ever taken in Oregon. In 1875 Bendire (Brewer 1875) 

 listed his Camp Harney birds as P. arcticus but in 1877 (Bendire 1877) 

 used the name P. megalonyxfor the same birds, a name that Mearns (1879) 

 used for Fort Klamath birds. Merrill (1888) listed Fort Klamath birds as 

 P. m. oregonus. Miller (1904) used the same name for Wheeler County 

 birds, but Peck (191 la) switched to arcticus for Malheur County birds. 

 Beginning with Jewett's (1909^ list of Baker County birds, the name 

 P. m. montanus was used generally until the separation of the present form 

 by Grinnell (1911). These various records are cited to show the con- 

 fusion caused by the constant shifting of subspecific concepts. All apply 

 to the same resident group of birds with the possible exception of strag- 

 glers of other races that might reach eastern Oregon. 



Although we have records for every month, the species becomes much 

 more abundant about March 15 and decreases greatly in numbers in 

 early October. We have found no nests of this form, but young of the 

 year are usually flying by mid-June, which would place the general nest- 

 ing period in mid-May. Bendire (1877), however, reported taking a 

 nest with two eggs from a low bush in the Blue Mountains above Camp 

 Harney, June 15, 1875, tne on ^y actually published breeding record for 

 this subspecies that we have been able to find for the State. 



The Nevada Towhee is in our experience a rather shy bird in marked 

 contrast to the dooryard habit of the western Oregon form. It flits 

 nervously through the willows or sagebrush well ahead of an intruder, 

 occasionally stopping to perch for an instant on some conspicuous twig. 



FIGURE 18. Distribution of three forms of towhees in Oregon: i, Nevada Towhee (Pi^ilo 

 maculatus curtatus); z, Oregon Towhee (P. m. 0regonus~); ^3, Sacramento Towhee (P. m. 



falcinellus"). 



