124 Noirni .\mi;i:h an imiids. 



(Icjul leaves, wliirh thcv •^Tcatly rcsemMe in ((dor. Tin's rosrmltlimcc I>r. 



('nnjUT 11'1j:jIh1s us a ^Mt'ilt JH< »tt'Ctioll tn tllt'lll tVnMl lliiwks; tlu'il" lllU'S Jllso 



rnncsjxiiid with those of the iMith ami tlic thisky I'oliam' (luriiiLr in«»st of the 

 year. They are tluis K'ss eoiispieiioiis in the light, ami they venture more 

 fearlessly foith and feed in open grounds. 



They have hut little song, and oidy utter a few faint chirps and hurried 

 notes, as they sit perehed upon some low hush, in the spring. At San l>iego 

 J)r. Cooper saw the first nest with eggs on April 17, hut some hirds had laid 

 much earlier, as he lound young hatched l»y the 20th. He afterwartls observed 

 other nests, all of which w.re huilt in hushes, from tw«> to four feet from the 

 ground, and all hut one c<tntained three eggs ; the other had four. He has 

 found them huilt in low trees, and one in a vine growing over the porch of a 

 liouse. The nest is formed of coarse twigs, hark, and gra.ss, is thick and 

 large, and is lined with tine r(»ot-tihres and finer gra.sses. The eggs are pale 

 blue, spotted with purplish-hrown blotches, mostly small and scattered. He 

 gives the measurement of the eggs as .IK) by .(*»'> of an inch. In the more 

 northern part of the State they are said to lay four eggs ofteuer than three. 

 They are sup]>osed by him to have two broods in a sea.son. 



Colonel McCall has no doubt that they are found throughout California, 

 as he has met with them frcun the uj»per waters of the Sacramento to the 

 mouth of the (lila; the former having its origin in the extreme north, and 

 the latter touching the extreme southern boundary of the State. It is most 

 abundant south of Santa Barltara. 



Cohniel ^IcCall states that its habits and mannei*s difler somewhat from 

 those of the connnon Towliee and the Arctic Finches. Its Hight is more 

 even and regular, and is without that violent jerking of the tail from side to 

 side, which gives such a singular appear.mce of awkwardness to the move- 

 ments of the Towhee. It is less shy and sus}»icious than the Arctic. It is 

 also much less decidedly a (Jround Finch than either of the (»ther.s. Its fa- 

 vorite abotle he found to be the vicinitv of wateicourse^, where it is irener- 

 ally to be seen in ])airs, though he has, at times, surprised eight or ten 

 togetlier under the shade of a large bush at noon in a summer day, when he 

 has had no dithculty in ])rocuring three or four s]>ecimens Inifore the party 

 dispersed. It is at all times a familiar bird, boldly coming into the roads to 

 feed, and permitting a close a})})roach. If compelled to retreat, it darts sud- 

 denly into the thicket, but returns as soon as the cause of alarm has disap- 

 peared. Near Santa liarbara he found thirty or forty of these birds, in the 

 month ot July, dispersed over an old field of some five acres in extent, con- 

 tiguous to a sea-beach, through which flowed a small stream of fresh water. 

 They were feeding on the ground, sheltered by a rank growth of weeds. 

 When one was flushed it Hew into a neighboring tree instead of seeking 

 shelter again in the weeds. The young at that time were fully fledged, and 

 scarcely diii'ere<l in the coh)r of their plumage from the adults. 

 . Dr. Heermann once met with a nest of this bird built in a grapevine over- 



