GROSBEAKS, FINCHES, SPARROWS: Family Fringillidae [555] 



wing 3.30-3.46, tail 3.75-4.00, exposed culmen .51-. 59, hind toe and claw .71-. 81, 

 length of white spot in outer tail feather .98-1.2.0. Ntst and eggs: Similar to those 

 of P. m. curtatus. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from Jackson County, Oregon, south through in- 

 terior of California to Tulare County. In Oregon: Permanent resident and breeding 

 bird of Jackson and Josephine Counties. (See Figure 18.) 



THE SACRAMENTO TOWHEE, which is distinguished most readily from P. m. 

 oregonus by the much greater amount of white on the wings and tail, is 

 the resident breeding form of the chaparral thickets of the Rogue River 

 Valley, where it is an abundant and permanent resident, with habits 

 and behavior much like the Oregon Towhee. As nothing had been pub- 

 lished regarding the birds of the Rogue River Valley until Gabrielson's 

 (1931) list appeared in the Condor, his was the first published reference to 

 the Sacramento Towhee as an Oregon bird. We have numerous specimens 

 from that valley taken throughout the year. 



Curiously enough Woodcock (1901) recorded a bird taken at Corvallis, 

 January 2.0, 1899, as P. m. arcticus, that an examination shows to be 

 identical with birds from Grants Pass and Medford. It is evidently a 

 bird that had wandered northward after the breeding season and is the 

 only specimen we have seen from north of Grants Pass. 



Patterson (ms.) furnished dates of numerous nests at Ashland between 

 May 2. and June 14, which are the only definite nesting dates we have 

 found for this form. 



Oregon Brown Towhee: 



Pipilo fuscus bullatus Grinnell and Swarth 



DESCRIPTION. "Adults: Entire upper parts plain dull grayish brown, slightly deeper on 

 head; throat light rufous, usually marked with dusky; middle of belly whitish or 

 dull buffy, sides grayish brown; under tail coverts reddish brown. Young: like 

 adults, but browner, wing bars and edgings pale brownish; under parts dull buffy, 

 deepening to tawny on throat and belly, and grayish brown along sides; anterior 

 lower parts streaked. Male: length (skins) 8.35-9.50, wing 3.75-4.08, tail 4.2.2.- 

 4.55, bill .56-. 65. Female: length (skins) 8.2.4-8.60, wing 3.57-3.88, tail 4.14-4.38, 

 bill .56-. 63." (Bailey) Nest: In bushes and trees, usually within a few feet of the 

 ground, made of inner bark, twigs, and weed stems and lined with plant stems, 

 wool, and hair. Eggs: 4 or 5, pale blue, spotted with purplish brown. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Valleys of Rogue and Umpqua Rivers in southern Oregon. 

 In Oregon: Permanent resident of chaparral thickets of Douglas, Jackson, and 

 Josephine Counties. 



THE OREGON BROWN TOWHEE is a characteristic bird of the bushy hill- 

 sides in the interior valleys of Douglas, Jackson, and Josephine Counties. 

 There in the lowlands between the Coast and Cascade Ranges in the 

 Umpqua and Rogue watersheds its characteristic metallic alarm note can 



