708 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
If they did breed in the State it is fair to presume that they nested in the yellow 
pines, since nests that have been found in other States are almost exclusively in 
these trees. 
These New Mexico records are based on specimens, but in addition, Crossbills 
of one species or the other have been seen or heard in the Chuska Mountains at 
8,300 feet, October 2, 1908 (Birdseye); Santa Clara Canyon, August 23-29, at 
8,000 feet; in Willow Creek Canyon, of the Mogollons, October 29, 1906; a few 
September 21, 1906, in the nut pines of San Mateo Canyon and two days later at 
Cubero (Bailey); while they were abundant in October, 1907, in the Gila Forest 
Reserve (Bergtold).—W. W. Cooke. 
Food. —The crops of specimens taken in the Manzano Mountains by Gaut 
contained yellow-pine seeds. 
TOWHEES, SPARROWS, BUNTINGS, etc.: Subfamily Emberizinae 
GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE: Oberholseria chlorura (Audubon) 
Plate 79 
Description. — Male: Length (skins) 6.2-7 inches, wing 3-3.3, tail 3.1-3.4, 
bill .5. Female: Length (skins) 6.5-7.1 inches, wing 2.8-3.1, tail 2.9-3.3, bill .4-.5. 
Bill small, conical, wings rather long and pointed, tail long, rounded. Adults: 
Top of head reddish brown , upperparts olive-gray more or less tinged with yellowish 
olive-green and becoming bright greenish on wings and tail; edge of wing, under 
wing coverts, and axillars bright yellow, throat with white patch , and sides of head, 
chest, and body, gray, fading to white on belly. Young: Upperparts brown, partly 
tinged with green, and streaked throughout with dusky; wings and tail like adults, 
but wing bars brownish buffy; underparts dingy white, chest and sides streaked 
with dusky. 
Range. —Breeds in semi-arid Transition Zone in interior plateau region from 
southeastern Washington (?), eastern Oregon, southwestern Montana, and Colorado 
south to western Texas, southeastern New Mexico, and southern California; winters 
from southern California, southern Arizona, and western Texas south to Gua¬ 
najuato and Cape San Lucas. 
State Records. —Though common throughout New Mexico during migration, 
the Green-tailed Towhee is known as a breeder only in a few localities, the larger 
part of the birds nesting to the northward. A specimen was taken, July 20, 1901, 
in the Sacramento Mountains near Cloudcroft (Fuertes), which probably represented 
a breeding bird. The species was common June 25, 1903, at 7,400 feet on Mesa 
Yegua (Bailey), and was found breeding rarely at Willis, 7,800 feet (Henshaw), 
but was not noted above 8,000 feet on the Pecos. It breeds in Pueblo Canyon 
near Taos and is not rare near Tres Piedras (Bailey). lOn June 22, 1919, it was 
common about the Bagley Ranch on the Little Rio Grande, 10 miles south of Taos, 
at 7,400 feet; also at the south end of Round Mountain at about 9,000 feet (Ligon). 
It is common in northern Santa Fe County from 7,500 to 9,000 feet, nesting in sage¬ 
brush, juniper, and rose bushes. Fresh eggs were found May 20-July 10 (Jensen, 
1922).] Eggs were found July 13, 1904, at 7,400 feet near Taos (Bailey), and 
young in the nest July 16, 1910, in the Pecos National Forest about 15 miles north¬ 
east of Santa Fe (Dearborn). [At Lake Burford it was fairly common and a nest 
with three eggs was found, June 11, 1918 (Wetmore)d It probably breeds also 
in the Jemez Mountains—though the only available records for these mountains 
are early in the fall—since it breeds to the southwestward from 7,000 feet at Fort 
Wingate (Fisher) to at least 8,000 feet on Bear Ridge in the Zuni Mountains 
(Goldman). [It nests generally above 7,800 feet. Very small young were seen 
