234 



LAND-BIRDS. 



in Watertown, Mass., March 25tli, 1874." * S . ^^^^^ ' ? ' 

 browner. Lower breast, etc., white. Back and wing-edgings, 

 " dull reddish brown " ; sides, paler. 



xvin. piPiLo. 



A. EETTHKOPHTHALMUS. Towkee Buuting. " Towhee." 

 "Chewink" '' Ground lioUn." " Marsh Bobin." " Swamp 

 Sobin." ^ A common summer resident in Massachusetts, 

 but not common to the northward of this State, f 



Fig. 10. Towhee Bunting, (i) 



a. 8—8^ inches long. (Iris, in the summer season red, ex- 

 cept in the young ; otherwise, white or nearly so.;]:) ^ , black ; 

 lower breast, beUy, and nearly the whole of the outermost tail- 

 feathers, white. A conspicuous patch on the side of the breast, 

 chestnut (with paler traces of it behind). Wings and tail 

 with some white, besides that mentioned. § , of a deep, warm 

 brown where the male is black. 



b. The nest, which near Boston is generally finished in the 

 last week of May, is to be found in the " scrub " and low wet 



* On re-examination ttis bird proves 

 to be a typical example of Junco hye- 

 malis shufeldti Coale, a form very 

 closely related to the true oregonus, 

 from which it was separated some time 

 after the original determination of the 

 Watertown specimen was made. — 

 W. B. 



^^ This name has been applied indis- 

 criminately to several different birds. 



t A common summer resident of 



southern New England, breeding also 

 sparingly and somewhat locally in the 

 less elevated and older settled portions 

 of northern New England. There is a 

 record of a specimen taken in January 

 at Portland, Connecticut. — W. B. 



X This is incorrect. The iris is 

 whitish in a southern form (alteni), but 

 in true erythrophthalmus it is red in old 

 birds at all seasons, and dark ashy or 

 light brown in the young. — W. B. 



