324 SOME UNITED STATES BIRDS, NEW TO SCIENCE. 
eggs Sept. 3. The usual note is zib, zib, zib and a twitter, some- 
thing like the sound of a coin spinning on a table.” 
Abert’s Towhee (Pipilo Abertii) and the Cañon Towhee (Pipilo 
fuscus of Swainson, not of Cassin : P. mesoleucus of Baird; Key, 
152) are two large species related to our chewink, but dull colored 
(grayish, etc.) instead of black, white and chestnut. They inhabit 
the Colorado valley and its vicinity, though Abert’s, at least, seems 
closely confined to the river itself and its tributaries. Both are 
abundant, and they live together; Abert’s is the bigger, and the 
eggs are readily distinguished. A clutch of P. Abertii eggs con- 
taining three, taken September 4th, measure -95 X *78; °94 & °77; 
and ‘95 X '77; they are plump eggs, broad for their length, little 
smaller at one end than at the other. The color is bluish-white, 
sparsely marked, and chiefly at the larger end (where the markings 
form a splashed area, not a ring), with dark reddish-brown; some 
of the markings are very fine speckling, others are short, sharp 
zigzag lines; the general tone of the markings is very dark, as I 
‘have said, but some of the spots are quite light reddish, while 
others (in the shell, and consequently overlaid with its ground 
color) are neutral tint. The egg is decidedly peculiar, as compared 
with that of the other species, and recalls some of the least varie- 
gated samples of red-winged blackbird eggs, though still the mark- 
ings are mostly spots, rather than streaks. — Two eggs of P. fuscus, 
taken Sept. 3, measure -95 X +72, and ‘95 X 70: thus being as long 
as those of Abertii, but very noticeably narrower, and more pointed 
at one end. The ground color is pale bluish ; the whole surface is 
marked — thickly at the large end, where the spots tend to a ring, 
more sparsely elsewhere — with light brownish-red; a few of the 
(heaviest) spots are darker brown, and many others are neutral 
tint, or lavender. The marks range in size from mere points to 
moderately large spots; still they are all spots, none lengthening 
into lines, as is the case with those of Abertii. + 
The Ground Cuckoo (Geocoecyx Californianus) is a large species 
of singular aspect and peculiar ways, noted for its swift-footed- 
ness, inhabiting the Southwestern Territories and California, and 
abundant in Southern Arizona. An egg of this bird that Lt. Ben- 
dire sent me, and the first one I remember to have seen, measures 
1:55 X 1:25, being thus broadly ellipsoidal; the greatest diameter 
is near the middle, and hardly any difference in size of the two 
a ‘Gods i is appreciable. It is plain dull white, and looks something 
