304 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



PlPILO ERYTHROPHTHALMUS ERYTHROPHTHALMUS (LilUl.). 



hee. 



Common summer resident and abundant migrant; irregular winter 

 resident. 



Not many days before or after the 15th of March the return- 

 ing Towhees announce their presence from every thicket and 

 wooded ravine and hillside. For about three weeks the woods 

 are full of singing migrants. At this time they are to be found 

 even along the streets and boulevards of the city. Nesting be- 

 gins late in April and early May. The southward movement is 

 noticeable early in October and the birds present in November 

 will remain all winter unless driven further south by unusual 

 cold. These wintering birds are few even in mild winters. 



Towhees are common over the entire county in suitable lo- 

 calities and may be found in the cemeteries, parks and suburbs. 



PIPILO MACULATUS ARCTicus (Swainson). Arctic Towhee. 



Very rare winter visitant. 



Bush states that he has observed the Arctic Towhee at rare 

 intervals near Courtney during severe winters and that speci- 

 mens have been taken. Bunker gives it as rare in eastern Kan- 

 sas during winter. 



CARDINALIS CARDINALIS CARDINALIS (Linnaeus). Cardinal. 



Very common resident. 



Some question exists as to the status of our Cardinal. Ridg- 

 way states (Bull. 50, U. S. N. M., Birds of North & Middle 

 Amr., part 1, p. 637) that it is very uncertain how far south 

 along the eastern border of the plains this form (C. c. car- 

 dinalis), or how far north the Texan form (C. c. canicaudus 

 Gray-tailed Cardinal) extends; "possibly even birds from 

 eastern Kansas are referable to the latter." He states further 

 (1. c. p. 636) that specimens from the Mississippi Valley are 

 so completely intermediate between the two forms that they 

 may almost as properly be referred to one as to the other. 



There has been available for study a series of ten males and 

 six females from this region and only two male specimens from 

 east of the Allegheny Mountains, but no typical C. c. canicaudus 

 has been examined. A carefully drawn up table of measure- 

 ments shows a very slight increase in the size of the local birds 

 over the eastern specimens. No difference in the distribution 



