578 TOWHEE BUNTING. 



would be so pronounced as to give any idea of the sound 

 which they may so precisely imitate when properly enun- 

 ciated. Every now and then the male will mount a con- 

 spicuous bush, tree, or stub, preferably a dry tree-top, and 

 sing for some time his monotonous ditty, — who-he-tit-it-it-it- 

 it-it-it, which, though by no means strikingly musical, is 

 still a pleasing sound amid the voices of the early spring. 



Classed with the Sparrows in the Fringillidm family, 

 and hence a thick-billed sead-eating bird, it is also fond 

 of insects and their larvae, and works diligently for 

 them. 



The nest, formed in May, is quite secretively placed on 

 the ground, — at the root of a bush, under a log, under 

 the edge of a brush-pile, or in a thick bunch of grass; 

 the site being so well excavated as to sink the rim nearly 

 or quite level with the surface. The structure is bulky, of 

 dried leaves and ' shreds of bark, being lined with fine 

 grasses. The 4-6 eggs, about M%y. .1^, and quite roundish, 

 are greenish or grayish-white, finely specked and spotted 

 all over with reddish-brown and lilac. This species sum- 

 mers from the Carolinas to Northern New England and 

 corresponding latitudes, and winters from the Carolinas to 

 about the middle of Florida. 



Residing permanently throughout the winter habitat of 

 the above species, is the White-eyed Towhee {P. leucopis), 

 differing from the former " in being smaller and in having 

 less white on the tail. This never extends over more than 

 three pairs of the tail feathers and does not occupy the 

 entire width of the outer web, but has a narrow line of 

 black next to the shaft. The white of the wings is also less 

 extended. The chestnut is much paler, but the most notice- 

 able difference in the living specimen is the white eye. The 

 females may be distinguished at once by the slaty tint of 



