112 P1P1LO ERYTHROPIITHALMUS. 



in the south for I never met with them in the piney woods. While migrating and at other 

 times these birds do not accompany members of the same family but move by themselves. 

 They also differ from most Fringilline birds in not associating in large numbers, for I never 

 saw over twenty in one flock. 



GENUS XIIL PIPILO. THE GROUND BUNTINGS. 



GEN. Cn. Bill, thick, somewhat swollen, at base of lower mandible. Upper mandible, curved. Winys, a little shorter 

 than the tail. Feet, larye. Sternum, stout. Coracoids, shorter than top of keel which is considerably lower than one half 

 the lenyth of the coracoids. Size, larye. 



Prevailing colors above, dark, lighter, below. The tail is usually, though not always, prominently marked with white. 

 Iris, usually highly colored. 



PIPILO ERYTHROPHTHALMUS. 



Red-eyed Towhee. 

 Pipilo erythrophlhalmus VIEILL., Gal. Ois. I; 1824, 109. 



DESCRIPTION. 



SP. Cn. Form, robust. Size, large. Tongue, long, not very fleshy, provided with a bifid tuft of coarse, terminal, 

 hair-like fibers. Sternum as given above. The feathers of the head are elongated. 



COLOR. Adult male. Upper portion of body, including wings and tail, throat, sides of head and neck, and upper 

 breast, black. Edge of wing, outer webs of basal portion of all the primaries, and elongated spot on the outer four, forming 

 an oblique bar, spots on outer webs of secondaries, entire outer webs of outer tail feathers and terminal portion of all but 

 the central pair, middle of breast, and abdomen, white. Sides and flanks bright chestnut, with the lower side of the ante- 

 rior portion narrowly edged with black. Under wing coverts, under tail coverts, and crissum, pale-chestnut. Feet, brown. 

 Bill, blue-black. Iris, red. 



Adult female. With the black replaced by reddish-brown. White as in the males. The chestnut is much paler and 

 the feathers of the back show darker centers. 



Youny male. In this stage the white of the tail is less extended. The white markings of the secondaries are obscured 

 with ruf >us and the feathers of the rump and upper tail coverts are edged with it. There is no black margin to the chest- 

 nut of the sides. 



Youny female. Strongly overwashed with rufous above, the white markings being obscured by it. The white below 

 is tinged with -yellowish and there are indications of rufous wing bars. 



Nestlings. Similar to the young female but streaked above and below with dusky. There are strong indications of 

 wing bars. The males in this stage may be known from the females by the general darker colors above, the wings and tail 

 being black as their feathers are not moulted until the following autumn. Iris bluish-white. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



There is occasionally a concealed spot of white on the throat. Florida specimens do not differ essentially from more 

 northern skins excepting that the chestnut is richer in shade, but almost all the birds that I obtained on the Alleghany 

 Mountains in Pennsylvania show traces of white streakings on the scapularies, thus approaching the western forms of the 

 genus. A spring specimen from Peotona. Illinois, shows an inclination to albinoism but otherwise does not differ from 

 skins taken in Massachusetts. Known from the closely allied species from the West by the smaller amount of white on 

 the wings and from other species by the description as given. For comparison with the new Florida species see observa- 

 tions on page 114. 



Distributed in summer throughout the Eastern section of the United States between the latitudes of South Carolina and 

 the White Mountains. Winters from the Carolinas to Middle Florida. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Average measurements of fifteen specimens. Length, 8'05; stretch, 11'23; wing, 3'50; tail, 3'76; bill, '60; tarsus. 1.02. 

 Longest specimen, 8'50; greatest extent of wing, 12'25; longest wing, 3'70; tail, 4'00; bill, '67; tarsus, I'lO. Shortest 

 specimen, 7'60; smallest extent of wing, 10'40; shortest wing, 3'30; tail, 3'32; bill, '60; tarsus, '95. 



DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 



Nests, placed on the ground. They are loosely constructed, being composed of grass, leaves, and strips of bark, lined 

 with tine grass. Dimensions; external diameter, 3'50, internal, 2'00. External depth, 2'50, internal TOO. 



Egys, four or five in number, elliptical in form, ashy-white in color, spotted, dotted, and blotched, with reddish-brown 

 and lilac. Dimensions from "90 x '70 to "95 x "75. 



