OF NEW ENGLAND. 227 
with some white, besides that mentioned. 9, of a deep, warm 
brown where the male is black. ; 
(b). The nest, which near Boston is generally finished in the 
last week of May, is to be found in the “scrub” and low wet 
woods. It is placed on the ground, or near it in a pile of 
underbrush, and is composed of twigs, dead leaves, grasses, 
and roots. The eggs of each set are usually four, averaging 
1:00 & +75 of an inch; and their ground-color is white, often 
‘tinged with brown or gray. The-markings are usually very 
fine, rarely in blotches, and never coarse. They are sometimes 
most prominent about the crown, and sometimes are scattered 
evenly over the egg, often being very minute and numerous. 
Their colors are various browns, and occasionally lilac also. 
(c). The Towhee Buntings are common almost throughout 
the eastern United States, though rare to the northward of 
Massachusetts, and not known to occur beyond the White 
Mountains. In other parts of the country they are repre- 
sented by numerous closely allied species and varieties, as are 
other of our common birds, such as the Song Sparrow, of whom 
there are said to be no less than six distinct races in the West 
and North-west.69 The ‘“‘Towhees” usually reach Boston 
(which now includes much country within its limits) in the 
first week of May, sometimes earlier, sometimes later, and 
leave it in September or early October. On their arrival they 
sometimes appear in the copses and shrubbery of cultivated 
estates, but they usually desert these later in the season, and 
frequent almost exclusively swampy woodland, and the “scrub,” 
often that growing on hillsides. The “scrub” is a low or 
bushy “‘ growth” of trees, consisting chiefly of oaks and birches, 
which occurs for the most part in dry and hilly lands, particu- 
larly suchas once contained pines. Here among the under- 
brush the ‘‘ Chewinks” busy themselves, always on or near the 
ground, except when the males mount some low perch to sing. 
They search for seeds and insects underneath the leaves and 
decayed vegetation, which they turn over by scratching much 
69 Dr. Coues. 
