I08 BIRDS OF COLORADO. 



588a. Pipilo maculatus megalonyx. Spurred Towhee. 



Summer resident ; common. Arrives last of March to the 

 middle of April and by the middle of May has reached its upper 

 summer limit at 9,000 feet. Breeds from the base of the east- 

 ern foothills westward. Eggs are laid from the last of May 

 through June. Goes south late in September. So far as known 

 extends even in migration but a few miles out on the plains. 



590. Oreospiza chlorura. Green-tailed Towhee. 



Summer resident; common. Occurs throughout all of 

 Tvestern Colorado and common for a few miles out on the plains. 

 Has been taken by Capt. P. M. Thorne as far east as Fort I,yon. 

 Arrives the last of April and early part of May; ascends into 

 the mountains to the limit of trees. Breeds in all its range but 

 most commonly about 8,000 feet; nests in May and often raises 

 two broods. Leaves the State in October. 



J591. Pipilo fuscus mesoleucus. Canon Towhee. 



Resident; common, locally. All the records for the State 

 come from the Arkansas Valley. It is a common resident in 

 Pueblo County nesting in jumper and sometimes cactus bushes. 

 Most common on the plains and lower foothills but occurs spar- 

 ingly up to 10,000 feet. Breeds the latter part of April. The 

 above statements are from the notes of Beckham, lyowe and 

 Nash, who have made a special study of the birds of the Arkansas 

 Valley. Occurs regularly and abundantly south and southwest 

 of Colorado. 



592. Pipilo aberti. Abert's Towhee. 



Summer resident; rare. There is no record for Colorado 

 but that of Henshaw, who says: "Though no specimens were 

 secured, pretty good evidence of the presence of this species at 

 the alkali lakes northwest of Fort Garland, Colo. , was obtained 

 by the discovery of a nest, about June 35, 1873, containing two 

 eggs, which a careful comparison with specimens in the Smith- 

 sonian Institution satisfies me, must have belonged to this bird. 

 It had evidently been deserted a short time before." (Henshaw, 

 1875, 306.) In New Mexico and Arizona this species is 

 abundant. 



593. Cardinalis cardinalis. Cardinal. 



Winter visitant; rare, if not accidental. A. W. Anthony 

 writes that one was taken below Denver, December 5, 1883. 

 It is a rare resident in western Kansas and common southward. 



596. Zamelodia melanocephala. Black-headed Grosbeak. 



Summer resident; common. Occurs throughout the whole 



of Colorado from the plains to 8,000 feet, and breeds every- 



