398 NESTS AND EOOS OF 



589. GATJDALTJPE TOWHEE. Pipilo consobrinns Ridgw. Geog., Dist.— 

 Gaudalupe Island, Lower California. 



I have no authentic description of the nesting and eggs of this species, but they 

 can hardly differ from those of P. m. oregonus. 



590. GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE. Pipilo chlorurus (Towns.) Geog. Dist.— 

 Whole of Middle Province, including the Rocky Mountains and eastern slope of the 

 Sierra Nevada — Eastern Oregon, Idaho, Montana, etc., south into Mexico. 



Called the Chestnut-crowned Towhee, Green-tailed Bunting and Blanding's 

 Finch. It la generally distributed in all bushy places throughout the fertile moun- 

 tain portions of the interior. It is a characteristic bird of the eastern slope of the 

 Sierra Nevada, and a summer resident arriving at Virginia City about the middle or 

 latter part of April. Habits, nesting, eggs and song generic. The late Mr. Snow- 

 don Rowland informed me that he collected a set of four eggs of this species in 

 Wyoming in 1871. The nest was placed on the ground in the usual manner of that 

 of the Eastern Towhee, and was composed of dry grasses and shreds of bark. It 

 was well concealed by a dense growth of low bushes. The eggs are white with a 

 bluish tint, profusely dotted with pinkish-drab, sometimes so thickly distributed as 

 ■ to give the egg the appearance of a uniform color, or as an unspotted pinkish-drab, 

 and again more sparsely diffused; their average size is, .85x.65. 



591. CANON TOWHEE. Pipilo fuscus mesoleucus (Baird.) Geog. Dist. — N&v 

 Mexico and Arizona, south into Mexico. 



The Canon Bunting or Brown Towhee is abundantly distributed throughout the 

 warmer portions of New Mexico and Arizona, from the valley of the Rio Grande to 

 that of the Colorado. It prefers the dense bushes of the valleys, and like the Eastern 

 Red-eye, passes the greater part of its time on the ground, in thickets, generally in 

 company with the Arctic Towhee. The nest is usually built in shrubs and low mes- 

 quite trees. The eggs are three or four in number and are rounded oval in shape, 

 pale blue, spotted, dotted and lined with purplish-brown and black; sizes range from 

 l.OOx.75 to 1.05X.78. The eggs of the Brown Towhee resemble those of the Red- 

 winged Blackbirds, but are larger and more rounded oval.* 



591a. ST. LTJCAS TOWHEE. Pipilo fuscus albigula (Baird.) Geog. Dist— 

 liower California. 



The White-throated Brown Towhee is a common species at Cape St. Lucas, 

 where it breeds abundantly, placing the nest usually in thickets, a few feet from 

 the ground and often on the ground, in a slight hollow. It is composed of wiry 

 grasses, a few leaves, and fine, slender roots. The eggs are usually four in number, 

 pale greenish-white or very pale greenish-blue, with markings, dots, dashes and 

 lines about the larger end, of a deep dark shade of purplish-brown, so dark as some- 

 times to be indistinguishable from black; average size .91x.65 Inches. 



5916. CALIEORNIAN TOWHEE. Pipilo fuscus crissalis (Vig.) Geog. Dist.— 

 Pacific coast region west of the Cascades and Sierra Nevada, from the Umpqua 

 Valley, Oregon, south to Northern Lower California. 



An abundant bird in California and known as the California Brown Towhee, 

 Crissal Towhee Bunting and Canon Finch. Mr. A. M. Shields states that in Southern 



• Eggs of North American Birds, by C. J. Maynard, illustrated with ten hand- 

 colored plates. Boston: De Wolfe, Flske & Co. 1890. 



