396 
SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PASSEBES— OSCINES. 
301. P. erythroph thalamus. (Gr. epvOpos, eruthros, red ; 6(f)6aKfi6s, ophthalmos, eye.) Towhee 
Bunting. Marsh Robin. Chewink. ^ , adult : Glossy black ; belly white ; sides chest- 
nut ; crissum fulvous-brown ; primaries and inner secondaries with white touches on the outer 
webs ; outer tail-feather with outer web and nearly the terminal half of inner M^eb white, the 
next two or three with white spots decreasing in size ; bill black ; feet pale brown ; iris red in 
the adult, white or creamy in the young, and generally in winter specimens. Normally, the 
black pure and continuous ; occasionally, white touches on wing-coverts and scapulars. White 
on primaries confined to bases of outer 6, and their outer webs at about their middle ; on 
secondaries to outer webs of inner 2 or 3. Black feathers of throat with concealed whitish 
bases. Length 7-50-8.75 ; extent 10.00-12.00; wing 3.20-3.90; tail 3.35-4.00 ; tarsus 1.00- 
1.12; but these extremes are rare ; average length 8.00; extent 11.25; wing 3.75 ; tail 4.50. 
9 : Rich warm brown where the male is black ; otherwise similar, but smaller. Very young 
birds are streaked brown and dusky above, below whitish tinged with brown and streaked with 
dusky ; but this plumage is of brief duration ; sexual distinctions may be noted in birds just 
from the nest, and they rapidly become much like the adults. Eastern U. S. and British 
Provinces ; N. to Canada, Minnesota and Dakota, w'here meeting P. arcticus; W. to Kansas, 
and in Missouri River region to about 43°. Northerly perfectly migratory ; winters from middle 
U. S. southward ; breeds nearly throughout its range. An abundant and familiar inhabitant of 
thickets, undergrowth, and briery tracts, spending much of its time on the ground, scratching 
among fallen leaves. Nest on the ground, bulky, of leaves, grasses and other fibrous material ; 
eggs 4-5, 0.95 X 0.70, white, thickly speckled with reddish. The curious names Towhee" 
and Chewink " are from its cry ; Marsh Robin " from its haunts and the chestnut of the sides. 
302. P. e. al'leni. (To J. A. Allen, the eminent naturalist.) White-eyed Towhee Bunting. 
Similar ; smaller ; less white on the wings and tail ; claws longer ; iris white. $ , extremes : 
Length 7.25-8.50; extent 9.50-11.55 ; wing 2.80-3.50 ; tail 3.25-4.00 ; tarsus 0.80-1.10 ; aver- 
age length 7.90; extent 9.90; wing 3.12; tail 3.50; tail relatively longer than in Northera 
specimens, producing less difference in total length than there is in length and extent of wings. 
White on outer tail-feather about as much as on the next feather of P. erytJirophtJialmus. 
Florida ; resident ; a local race. 
[P. macula'tus. (Lat. maculatus, spotted.) Olive-black Spotted Towhee. A Mexican 
species, with extensively olivaceous coloration and streaked back, into which the following three 
varieties shade imperceptibly, — oregonus being farthest removed and most like erytliroplithdl- 
mus, arcticus and megalonyx successively nearing the Mexican stock-form.] 
303. P. m. ore/gonus. (To the Territory of the Oregon.) Oregon Towhee. ^ : Very similar to 
erytJirophtlialmus ; quite as black, but not continuously so ; wing-coverts with sm.all rounded, 
and scapulars with larger oval, white spots on the outer webs of the feathers near the end ; 
interscapulars sometimes also with white touches ? white marks on the primaries and inner 
secondaries very small or wanting, usually none at the bases of the former; white spots on tail- 
feathers very small, the outer web of the outer rectrix not white except at the end. Excepting 
these particulars, this form looks more like erythrophthalmus than like the typical viaculatus, 
in which the body-colors are olivaceous. 9 dark umber-brown, but not quite blackish. 
Pacific coast region, N. to British Columbia, S. to Southern California, melting eastward 
into arcticus, southeastward into megalonyx. 
304. P. m. are'ticus. (Lat. arcticus, arctic.) Arctic Towhee. Similar to the foregoing ; less 
purely and continuously black, with tendency to olivaceous on back and rump ; white spots of 
wing-coverts larger, those of scapulars still larger and lengthening into streaks ; interscapulars 
also streaked with white ; white on the quills and tail-feathers at a maximum, as in erythro- 
phthalmus; usually, also, concealed M^hite specks in the black of the throat. 9 comparatively 
dark, but not quite blackish. In this form, the white on the wing-quills and tail-feathers, so 
much reduced in the glossy black oregonus, is as extensive as in erythrophthalmus; but the 
