ABBRT'S TOWHBB. 183 



has disappeared." The situation of the nest varies. Its favorite nesting places are thick 

 dense bushes three to five feet from the ground, but occasionally the nest is found on 

 the ground, in crevices of vine-covered rocks, and in hollow trunks of trees. According 

 to Prof. B. W. Evermann, who found the bird abundantly in Ventura County, the nest 

 is in that region usually built in a sage or greasewood bush or in a cactus, from one 

 to five feet from the ground, but he occasionally found it in live-oaks, ten to fifteen feet 

 up. The nests were composed of twigs, bark-strips, grasses, and lined with rootlets. 

 The eggs, usually four in number, have a blue ground-color, and are spotted and 

 blotched with varying shades of dark and light purple; in some cases these spots are 

 almost black. The markings are chiefly or w^hoUy at the larger end. In their general 

 appearance they resemble very much the eggs of the Red-winged Blackbird. 



DESCRIPTION: Darker than the fdrmer and larger, showing more of a rufous tint. Upper parts, dark 

 olive-brown, the crown not conspicuously marked dark rufous; under-parts somewhat similar, washed 

 with grayish ; middle of the belly, whitish ; chin and throat, pale rufous, margined all round by 

 brown spots, a few of them scattered within the margin. 

 Length, 8.75 inches; wing, 3.87; tail, 4.53 inches. 



ABERT'S TOWHEE. 



Pipilo aberti Baird. 



^HIS interesting Towhee is an abundant inhabitant of the shrubbery, particularly 

 in the cacti and yucca thickets of Arizona and Mexico, being especially numerous 

 in the valleys of the Colorado and Gila Rivers. It is a large and long-tailed bird ; and 

 is said to be very shy, rarely leaving the chaparral which affords it an excellent pro- 

 tection against many intruders. 



The best description of its habits and nidification has been written by Major 

 Chas. E. Bendire, of the United States Army, and from it I quote the following : 



"Abert's Towhee is the largest of the plain colored Pipilos of the Pacific coast, 

 and a quite different looking bird from the Canon Towhee, its most striking characters 

 being its uniform pale cinnamon color, only relieved by a slight edging of black around 

 the base of the bill, and its unusually long tail. I found it a quite common resident, 

 and breeding abundantly, in the vicinity of ray camp on Rillitto Creek, Arizona, if pos- 

 sible even more common than the Canon Towhee. In its habits it is one of the shyest 

 birds I know, and although I could readily find one of its nests, every hundred feet, in 

 a eertain limited area, it was quite a different matter to secure the parent for identifi- 

 cation. I wasted more than one hour in w^atching for these birds. Their loud alarm 

 note of httit, huh, indicated their whereabouts readily enough, but getting a good view 

 of them was another thing. Even during the winter months they were hard to secure, 

 and not by any means as social in their habits as the Canon Towhee. I found my first 

 nest with eggs on May 13, 1872, placed in a willow thicket, about three and a half 

 feet irom the ground. Outwardly this was composed exclusively of the soft inner bark 



