180 CANON TOWHEE. 



of a uniform color, or as an unspotted pinkish-drab colored egg. Occasionally the dots 

 are deeper and larger, and more sparely diifused." (Brewer.) 



DrJ. A. Allen found the bird in Colorado. "This is one of the most interesting birds," 

 he writes, "met with in the wooded portions of the great central plateau of the continent. 

 In the mountains of Colorado it ranges from the foot-hills up to the limit of trees, and 

 throughout the mountain valleys is one of the more common species. It aifects the 

 moister thickets near the streams, and possesses a peculiar and very pleasing song. In 

 habits or notes it has but little resemblance to the group of Towhees with which it is 

 commonly associated by systematic writers, presenting in these respects far more resem- 

 blance to the group of Sparrows so familiarly represented in the Atlantic States by the 

 common "White-throat, from which it only differs structurally in its relatively longer tail." 



NAMES: Green-tailed Towhee, Green-tailed Finch, Green-tailed Bunting, Chestnut-crowned Towhee, 

 Blanding's Finch. 



SCIENTIFIC NAMES: Fringilla chlorura Audubon (1839). Zonotrkhia chlorura Gambel (1843). PIPILO 



CHLORURUS Baird (1858). 

 DESCRIPTION: "Above, dull grayish olive-green. Crown, uniform chestnut. Forehead with superciliary 



stripe, and sides of head and neck, the upper part of the breast and sides of the body, bluish-a$h. 



Chin and upper part of throat abruptly defined white, the former margined by dusky, above which 



is a short white maxillary stripe. Under tail-coverts and sides of body behind brownish-yellow. 



Tail-feathers generally, and exterior of wings, bright olive-green, the edge and under surface of the 



wings, bright greenish-yellow; edge of first primary, white. First quill longer than eighth, fourth 

 ~ longest. 



"Length, about 7.00 inches; wing, 3.20; tail, 3.65 inches." (B. B. & R., "North American Birds," 



II. p. 131.) 



CANON TOWHEE. 



Pipilo fuscus mesoleucus Ridgway. 



^HE type of several varieties of Towhees, among which the Canon Towhee and 

 the California Towhee are the principal forms, is known as the Brown Towhee 

 (Pipilo fuscus Swains.), a bird inhabiting Mexico north nearly to the United States 

 boundary. 



The Canon Towhee is an inhabitant of New Mexico and Arizona, where it has 

 been found by many of our well-known ornithologists, among whom I will only mention 

 Dr. ElUott Coues, Major Chas. E. Bendire, Dr. Palmer, Dr. Heermann, Dr. Henry, 

 Dr. Kennerly, Mr. W. E. D. Scott, etc. 



The best description of the Cafion Towhee's haunts and nidification has been given 

 by Major Charles E. Bendire, the well-known ornithologist and oologist of the National 

 Museum, Washington, D. C. He writes as follows: "The late Dr. T. M. Brewer pub- 

 lished the first correct description of the eggs from specimens collected by the writer in 

 1872, in the vicinity of the present site of Camp Lowell, about seven miles north-east 

 of Tucson, Arizona. Here I found the Canon Towhee nesting quite abundantly on the 

 more or less open plains immediately back from the Rillitto Cre^k bpttom, which &rQ 



