FBINGILLIDJE : FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPABBOWS, ETC. 396 



tending to swell, ■with more decidedly curved culmen. Tail rather longer, on an average. 

 Valley of the Colorado and G-ila, and Lower California, common. 

 96. Pi'PiiiO. (Lat. pipilo or pipio, I pip, peep, chirp.) Towhee Buntings. Emhracing 

 numerous species and varieties of large FringilUdee, varying much in system of coloration and 

 details of form, and therefore not easy to characterize concisely. Excepting one species, all are 

 over seven inches long. Bill moderate in size, conic without extremes of turgidity or compres- 

 sion, but varying much in precise shape with the species. Feet large and strong, fitted for 

 ground work ; tarsus about equalling or rather exceeding the middle toe and claw ; lateral toes 

 subequal, outer usually a little the longer, its claw reaching, in some cases exceeding the base 

 of the middle claw ; the claws all stout and much curved, in some species highly developed. 

 Wings short and greatly rounded, about the 4th-5th primary longest, whence the quiUs are 

 rapidly graduated to 1st and 9th ; 1st very short. Tail long, exceeding the wings, rounded or 

 much graduated, of broad firm feathers with rounded ends. Large species, inhabiting shrub- 

 bery, and partly terrestrial. They fall in 3 sections or series. I. Black Towhees : of which the 

 only Eastei'n species is a typical example. In this, the sexes are very unlike, but the difference 

 is less in the Western varieties into which it runs : aU the forms are black on head and upper 

 parts, with black, white-marked wings or tail,i the back also white-marked or not ; belly white, 

 sides chestnut. II. Brown Towhees : variously brown above, paler, etc., below, the sexes 

 alike. These are confined to the Southwest, where the numerous species stand in the same 

 relation to Frmgillidce that the Southwestern forms of Ha/rporhynchus bear to Tmrdidee. III. 

 Green Towhees : one small species, standing alone. 



Obs. I. The black series of Pipilo offers a case nearly parallel with those of Melospiza, 

 Passerella and Jwnco already discussed. There is one Eastern form much more distinct from 

 the several Western ones than these are from one another. It is uniform black above, seldom 

 with a trace of white spotting on the scapulars : the ? distinctively brovra where the $ is 

 black. The Western ones aU have spotted scapulars and sometimes also interscapulars ; and 

 9 9 are blackish, much like the $ $. (These furthermore shade into an olivaceous Mexican 

 form.) P. areticus corresponds in a way with Melospiza heermamni, Passerella schistacea, and 

 Junco caniceps; P. oregonus with Melospiza guttata or rufina, Passerella unalascce and Ju/nco 

 oregonus ; P. megalonyx exactly with Passerella megarhyncha. It might be more consistent 

 to treat all the black Towhees as races of one incompletely specified stock ; but it is not easy 

 to so far ignore the sexual distinctiveness, nor the fact that though P. erythrophthalmus has 

 occasional spots on the scapulars, its intergradation is scarcely established. II. The Brown 

 Towhees afford one remarkably distinct species, P. aberti, to be likened to Harporhynehus 

 crissalis; and others incompletely separated from each other, like H. redivivus and H. lecontii. 



Analysis qf Species amd Vairieties. 



1. Black Towhees. Colors of the male black, white, and chestnut in definite areas. 



No white on the scapulars or wing-coverts. Sexes very unlike. 



Eyes red in the breeding season. Eastern TJ. S. at large erytlmphihalmus 301 



Eyes white In the breeding season. Florida, resident alleni 302 



Soapularsand.wing-c^verts with white spots; sexes more alike. Western. 



Little if any white at bases of primaries ; none on outer web of outer tail-feathers except at end. 



oregonus 303 



White on wings and tail as in erythrophthalmus, but interscapulars streaked . . . areticus 304 



Like the last; claws highly developed; sexes nearly alike megalonyx 305 



2. Brown Towhees. Colors not definitely black, white and chestnut ; no greenish; sexes alike. Southwestern. 



Grayish-brown, paler below, without blackish face ; throat and crissum fiilvous or rufescent. 



Light; belly whitening; crissum yellowish-brown; necklace of dusky streaks . . . meaoleucfis 306 



Similar ; more white on throat alUgula 307 



Dark ; belly only paler ; crissum cinnamon-brown ; throat fulvous, speckled arissalia 308 



Grayish-brown, paler below; face blackish; no other decided markings aberti 809 



3. Green Towhees. Colors greenish ; sexes alike. 



Crown brown, throat white, breast ashy, edge of wing yellow, etc ehlorums 310 



