EMBERIZA ERYTHROPHTHALMA. 



TOWHE BUNTING. 



[Plate LIIL Fig. 5. Female.] 



TURT. Syst. p. 534. PEALE'S Museum, JVb. 5970. 



THIS bird differs considerably from the male in colour; and 

 has, if I mistake not, been described as a distinct species by Eu- 

 ropean naturalists, under the appellation of the " Rusty Bunt- 

 ing." The males of this species, arrive several days sooner 

 than the females. In one afternoon's walk through the woods, 

 on the twenty-third of April, I counted more than fifty of the 

 former, and did not observe any of the latter, though I made a 

 very close search for them. This species frequents, in great 

 numbers, the barrens covered with shrub oaks; and inhabits 

 even to the tops of our mountains. They are almost perpetually 

 scratching among the fallen leaves, and feed chiefly on worms, 

 beetles and gravel. They fly low, flirting out their broad white- 

 streaked tail, and uttering their common note Towhe. They 

 build always on the ground, and raise two broods in the season. 

 For a particular account of the manners of this species, see our 

 history of the male. 



The female Towhe is eight inches long, and ten inches in 

 extent; iris of the eye a deep blood colour; bill black; plumage 

 above, and on the breast, a dark reddish drab, reddest on the 

 head and breast; sides under the wings light chestnut; belly 

 white; vent yellow ochre; exterior vanes of the tertials white; 

 a small spot of white marks the primaries immediately below 

 their coverts, and another slighter streak crosses them in a slant- 

 ing direction; the three exterior tail feathers are tipt with white; 

 the legs and feet flesh-coloured. 



