Mountain or Spurred Towhee 393 
The female resembles the male but is slightly smaller—wing about 
3-20, and has the black duller and of a more sooty shade. Young 
birds are tinged with rufous on the back, and are streaked below with 
dusky. 
Distribution.—Breeding from British Columbia and central Cali- 
fornia eastwards to Wyoming, Colorado and western Texas, south in 
winter to northern Mexico. 
The Mountain Towhee is'a very common summer bird throughout 
Colorado in the plains, and at the lower elevations up to about 7,500 
feet, occasionally reaching as high as 10,000 feet. It usually arrives 
about the end of March or beginning of April in the neighbourhood 
of Colorado Springs, and at correspondingly earlier and later dates 
to the south and north. It again leaves for the south in September. 
Aiken’s latest date is September 26th. 
The following are recorded localities : Weld co. (Markham), Boulder 
co. (Henderson), Idaho Springs, occasionally to 9,000 feet (Trippe), 
Lincoln co, (Aiken), Pueblo (Lowe), Baca, Routt, Montrose and Gar- 
field cos. (Warren), La Plata (Morrison), San Juan co. (Drew), Mesa co. 
(Rockwell). ; 
Habits.—The Mountain, or as formerly called, the 
Spurred Towhee, is rather a skulking bird, keeping near 
or on the ground in thick bush and scrub-oak, where 
it scratches away the fallen leaves for its food. It is 
often betrayed by its loud, harsh call-note, which closely 
resembles that of a Catbird, and is quite different from 
that of the Chewink (P. erythrophthalmus) of the east, 
though most observers say that its song is almost the 
same. 
The nest is placed on the ground or in a low bush, 
often in scrub-oak or wild-rose bushes ; it is built up of 
bark strips, leaves and grass. Fresh eggs are to be found 
in the neighbourhood of Denver (Dille 03) about June 
12th, while Dennis Gale gives May 25th to June 10th 
for Gold Hill. The eggs, four or five in number, are 
pale greenish or blueish, finely speckled with brown and 
lavender, chiefly at the larger end. They measure 
‘95 »« °68. 
