FEMALE TOWHE BUNTING. 297 



FEMALE TOWHE BUNTING. (Emheriza 

 erythrop thalma.) 



PLATE LILT.— Fig. 5. 



Amer. Orn. vol. ii. p. 35. — Turt. Syst. p. 534.— Peace's Museum, No. 5970. 

 PIPILO ER YTHROPTHALMA.—Ymihws. 



This bird differs considerably from the male in colour, and 

 has, if I mistake not, been described as a distinct species by 

 European naturalists, under the appellation of the " Rusty 

 Bunting." The males of this species, like those of the pre- 

 ceding, arrive several days sooner than the females. In one 

 afternoon's walk through the woods, on the 23d of April, I 

 counted more than fifty of the former, and did not observe 

 any of the latter, though I made a very close search for them. 

 This species frequents in great numbers the barrens covered 

 with shrub oaks ; and inhabits even to the tops of our moun- 

 tains. They are almost perpetually scratching among the 

 fallen leaves, and feed chiefly on worms, beetles, and gravel. 

 They fly low, flirting out their broad white-streaked tail, and 

 uttering their common note tow-hee. They build always on 

 the ground, and raise two broods in the season. For a parti- 

 cular account of the manners of this species, see our history of 

 the male, Vol. I. p. 185. 



The female towhe is eight inches long, and ten inches in 

 extent ; iris of the. eye, a deep blood colour ; bill, black ; 

 plumage above and on the breast, a dark reddish drab, reddest 

 on the head and breast ; sides under the wings, light chestnut ; 

 belly, white ; vent, yellow ochre ; exterior vanes of the tertials, 

 white ; a small spot of white marks the primaries immediately 

 below their coverts, and another slighter streak crosses them 

 in a slanting direction ; the three exterior tail-feathers are tipt 

 with white ; the legs and feet, flesh-coloured. 



This species seems to have a peculiar dislike to the sea-coast, 

 as in the most favourable situations in other respects, within 

 several miles of the sea, it is scarcely ever to be met with. 



