482 HISTORY OF THE 



small stems of grasses and rootlets. Eggs four or five, .94x. 71; 

 grayish white, spotted with reddish brown, thickest and some- 

 what running together around the larger end; in form, oval. 



Pipilo maculatus arcticus (SWAINS.). 



ARCTIC TOWHEE. 

 PLATE XXIX. 



Winter sojourner; rare in the eastern, common in the mid- 

 dle and western part of the State. The bulk leave in April. I 

 have occasionally met with the birds late in May, and they may 

 possibly occasionally breed in the northern portion of the State, 

 but their natural nesting places are much farther north. Begin 

 to return in October. 



B. 393. R. 238. C. 304. G. 120, 241. U. 588. 



HABITAT. Great Plains, north to the Saskatchewan and Man- 

 itoba regions; south to Texas; east to Kansas, Nebraska, etc. ; 

 west to the base of the Rocky Mountains; south in winter to 

 Texas. 



SP. CHAB. "Upper parts generally, with head and neck all round to the 

 upper part of the breast, black; the rump usually tinged with ashy. Middle of 

 breast and of belly white; sides chestnut; under tail coverts similar, but paler. 

 Entire outer webs of scapulars, and dorsal feathers immediately above them, and 

 of ends of primary and secondary coverts, to the shaft, with edges of outer webs 

 of three innermost tertials, and of the second to the fifth primaries, conspicu- 

 ously white. Whole outer web of the first, and ends of the first to the fourth, 

 tail feathers, white, the amount diminishing not very rapidly. Outermost quill 

 longer than ninth, sometimes than eighth, nearly always exceeding the second- 

 aries; third quill longest; fourth scarcely shorter. Female paler brown instead 

 of black; the rufous, seen in P. erythrophthalmus, tinged with ashy. 



"P. arcticus is similar in form to P. eryt7irop7ithalmus, which, however, is 

 readily distinguished by the entire absence of white on the scapulars and wing 

 coverts. The amount of white on the tail decreases much less rapidly." 



Stretch of 

 Length. wing. Wing, Tail. Tarsus. Bill. 



Male 8.25 10.80 3.50 4.00 1.05 .52 



Female... 8.10 10.30 3.30 3.90 1.03 .52 



Iris bright red; bill upper black, lower bluish black; legs 

 reddish brown; feet and claws dark brown. 



I find occasionally in Kansas signs of intergradation with P. 

 erythrophtlialmus; that is, specimens with a few white wing 

 spots, and others grading up to the fully speckled state. 



