Illustration: Pipilo fuscus, variation crissalis.Pipilo fuscus,var.crissalis.5559♂Sp. Char.Above dark olive-brown, the crown with a very slight tinge of scarcely appreciable dark rufous. Under parts with the color somewhat similar, but of a lightershade, and washed with grayish; middle of the belly only whitish; the under tail-coverts pale rufous, shading into lighter about the vent and sides of lower belly; chin and throat well-defined pale rufous, margined all round by brown spots, a few of them scattered within the margin. Eyelids and sides of head, anterior to the eye, rufous like the throat. One or two feathers on the lower part of the breast with a concealed brown blotch. Outer primary not edged with white. Fifth quill longest; first shorter than ninth, or even than secondaries. Bill pale brown, darker above; legs light. Length, 8.50 inches; wing, 4.00; tail, 4.60.Hab. Coast region of California.The bill is sinuated, as inP. aberti, differing from that ofP. erythrophthalmus.This race is very similar to the originalP. fuscusof Mexico, the original description of Swainson answering almost exactly. It is, however, considerably larger; the proportions of wing are similar; and there is no decided indication of whitish in the middle of the body beneath, such as is always distinctly appreciable infuscus, and still more inmesoleucus.A young bird differs but little from the adult except in having obsolete dusky streaks below; the upper parts are uniform.Habits.The Brown, or Cañon Finch of California is found nearly throughout the State of California. Mr. Xantus obtained it at Fort Tejon, and Mr. Ridgway observed it among the chaparrals on the foothills of the western slope of the Sierras.Dr. Cooper considers the name of Cañon Finch ill applied to this species, as it is equally plentiful in level districts, wherever trees and shrubbery exist. He regards it as one of the most abundant and characteristic birds of California, residing in all the lower country west of the Sierras, and extending up the slopes of the Coast Range to the height of three thousand feet. They are said to have habits very similar to those of all the other species, living much upon the ground, and seeking their food among thedead leaves, which they greatly resemble in color. This resemblance Dr. Cooper regards as a great protection to them from Hawks; their hues also correspond with those of the earth and the dusky foliage during most of the year. They are thus less conspicuous in the light, and they venture more fearlessly forth and feed in open grounds.They have but little song, and only utter a few faint chirps and hurried notes, as they sit perched upon some low bush, in the spring. At San Diego Dr. Cooper saw the first nest with eggs on April 17, but some birds had laid much earlier, as he found young hatched by the 20th. He afterwards observed other nests, all of which were built in bushes, from two to four feet from the ground, and all but one contained three eggs; the other had four. He has found them built in low trees, and one in a vine growing over the porch of a house. The nest is formed of coarse twigs, bark, and grass, is thick and large, and is lined with fine root-fibres and finer grasses. The eggs are pale blue, spotted with purplish-brown blotches, mostly small and scattered. He gives the measurement of the eggs as .90 by .65 of an inch. In the more northern part of the State they are said to lay four eggs oftener than three. They are supposed by him to have two broods in a season.Colonel McCall has no doubt that they are found throughout California, as he has met with them from the upper waters of the Sacramento to the mouth of the Gila; the former having its origin in the extreme north, and the latter touching the extreme southern boundary of the State. It is most abundant south of Santa Barbara.Colonel McCall states that its habits and manners differ somewhat from those of the common Towhee and the Arctic Finches. Its flight is more even and regular, and is without that violent jerking of the tail from side to side, which gives such a singular appearance of awkwardness to the movements of the Towhee. It is less shy and suspicious than the Arctic. It is also much less decidedly a Ground Finch than either of the others. Its favorite abode he found to be the vicinity of watercourses, where it is generally to be seen in pairs, though he has, at times, surprised eight or ten together under the shade of a large bush at noon in a summer day, when he has had no difficulty in procuring three or four specimens before the party dispersed. It is at all times a familiar bird, boldly coming into the roads to feed, and permitting a close approach. If compelled to retreat, it darts suddenly into the thicket, but returns as soon as the cause of alarm has disappeared. Near Santa Barbara he found thirty or forty of these birds, in the month of July, dispersed over an old field of some five acres in extent, contiguous to a sea-beach, through which flowed a small stream of fresh water. They were feeding on the ground, sheltered by a rank growth of weeds. When one was flushed it flew into a neighboring tree instead of seeking shelter again in the weeds. The young at that time were fully fledged, and scarcely differed in the color of their plumage from the adults.Dr. Heermann once met with a nest of this bird built in a grapevine overhangingthe Sacramento River. He describes the eggs of this species as differing entirely from any of this genus he had ever met with, and as having so great a resemblance to the eggs of the three different species of Blackbirds inhabiting California that they were liable to be confounded with them unless marked when taken from the nest.Dr. Newberry, who found this bird very common in the Sacramento Valley, states that when he first met with it, a strange bird to him, its habit of scratching among the dry leaves under the bushes, as well as its long tail and jerking flight from one clump of bushes to another, at once indicated to him its affinities.Among the memoranda made by Mr. Xantus at Fort Tejon are the following in reference to this species: “474, nest and two eggs, found May 19 on a small thorn-bush in a very dark thicket, about six feet from the ground; 1,675, nest and one egg, on a thick thorny bush, six feet from the ground; 1,851, nest and two eggs, May 12, on a rose-bush, four feet from the ground, eggs already incubated.”The eggs of this species measure one inch by .75, have a light ground of robin-blue, and are spotted and blotched with varying shades of dark and light purple. In some the color of the blotches is so deep as not to be distinguishable from black, except in a strong light. The lighter shades are a faint lavender.Pipilo fuscus,var.mesoleucus,Baird.CAÑON BUNTING.Pipilo mesoleucus,Baird,Pr. A. N. Sc. Ph. VII, June, 1854, 119 (Rocky Mountains).—Ib.Birds N. Am.1858, 518,pl. xxix.—Kennerly,P. R. R. X, bpl. xxix.—Heerm.X, c.p.15.—Cooper,Orn. Cal.1, 247.? Pipilo fusca, “Swains.,”Sclater & Salvin,P. Z. S.1869, 361 (city of Mexico).Sp. Char.Above very dull olivaceous-brown, with a grayish tinge; hood dull chestnut, conspicuously different from the back. Sides like the back, but paler; posteriorly, and about the vent and under tail-coverts, pale brownish-red. The ashy olive-brown of the sides scarcely meeting across the breast, the lower portion of which, with the upper belly, is rather pure white. The loral region, chin, throat, and upper part of the breast, pale yellowish-rufous, finely spotted on the sides and more coarsely across the breast with brown; an obscure spot in the middle of the breast; edge of outer primary white. Bill pale brown; legs flesh-color; first quill about equal to eighth, third and fourth longest. Length, 8.50 inches; wing, 3.80; tail, 4.70.Hab.Valley of Upper Rio Grande and across to the Gila River. East to Santa Caterina, New Leon.This race is similar in general appearance toP. crissalis, but the olive-brown and rufous are both of a lighter shade. The crown is of a decided rufous, conspicuously different from the back, instead of nearly the same tint. The light reddish under the head is wider throughout, andextends down to the upper part of the breast, blending with the colors of the breast and belly, instead of being narrower, more sharply defined, and restricted to the chin and throat; it is palest anteriorly, the chin and lore being almost white. The isolated larger spot on the breast is more conspicuous; the breast and belly are quite pure white, shaded with obsolete brownish blotches, instead of being uniform grayish-brown, with only an approach to whitish in the very middle. The edges of the wing and tail feathers are a good deal lighter, the outer web of the first primary being sharply edged with pure white, instead of obscure grayish-brown. The size generally is rather smaller, the wings more pointed.Compared withP. fuscus, we find the tail decidedly longer; the wing more pointed; the first quill about equal to the eighth, instead of shorter than the secondaries. The colors generally are paler; the cap of head bright distinct rufous in strong contrast with the other plumage, instead of being only very obscurely tinged with that color. The white of belly is purer, and extends farther forward, displacing the ashy tinge almost to the buff of the throat.If we consider all the brownPipilosas modifications of one primitive species, it will be well to consider the Arizonan and New Mexican bird as the central figure around which the others are grouped. The common character will then be varied in the California race,crissalis, by the absence of decided rufous on crown, a darker shade of color, and an extension of the gray of sides over the whole under parts, almost entirely displacing the white. The wing is more rounded, and the general dimensions larger southward on the central plains of Mexico; the general tints are almost precisely as in the California bird, except that the white of belly is very evident; but the chestnut cap and extended whiteness of belly, together with the pointed wing ofmesoleucus, are wanting. InP. albigulaof CapeSt.Lucas we have the general characters ofmesoleucus, with paler colors, more restricted spots encircling throat, and a tendency to white in its lower part. In this it approachesalbicollisof Southwestern Mexico.Habits. This little-known form was first obtained by Dr. Kennerly, naturalist to the Pacific Railroad Expedition on the 35th parallel, under Lieutenant Whipple. He met with it at Bill Williams Fork, in Arizona, February 5, 1854. It was described by Professor Baird the following June. Dr. Kennerly furnished at the time no information in regard to its habits.Dr. Heermann, in his Report on the birds observed in Lieutenant Parke’s expedition, mentions having met with this species in the vicinity of Tucson. Its habits, so far as he could judge of them from his opportunities, appeared very similar to those ofPipilo aberti.Lieutenant Couch met with this species at Santa Catalina, Mexico, in April, 1853, but furnishes no information in reference to its manners. Mr. J. H. Clark, who obtained a specimen near the Copper Mines of the Mimbres, states that they were met with in abundance in the deep valleys orcañons of that region. They were almost always in or about the thick clumps of bushes, several usually being in company.Dr. Kennerly, who met with them on a second trip, in June, 1855, near Los Nogales, in Mexico, speaks of them as not very common in that region. He found them preferring the dense bushes in the valleys. When approached, they became very restless, flying from one bush to another, accompanying their motions with very peculiar notes, which he does not describe.Dr. Coues found this species abundantly distributed throughout the warmer portions of New Mexico and Arizona, from the valley of the Rio Grande to that of the Colorado. He did not observe any at Fort Whipple, though they were found breeding some twenty-five miles to the southward. He found them associating freely withPipilo aberti, and inhabiting the same regions. The two birds have very similar habits.Dr. Henry also states that this species is common in New Mexico both summer and winter, and, so far as he has observed, dwelling almost entirely among the mountains. It appeared to him very retiring in its habits, and seemed to prefer the cañons. He has seldom, if ever, observed it far from shady gorges, where, like its relative of the Eastern States, the Towhee Bunting, it passes the greater part of its time on the ground, and is generally accompanied by its congener, the Arctic Finch. When disturbed, it seeks the thickest cover, though it is by no means shy or difficult to approach. Its nest is usually constructed in the branches of a thick cedar or dwarf oak, and he has never known it to produce more than one brood in a season.Dr. Cooper states that these birds are very abundant in Southern Arizona, that their habits closely resemble those ofP. aberti, and that their eggs are similar to those ofPipilo fuscus.Pipilo fuscus,var.albigula,Baird.CAPE TOWHEE.Pipilo albigula,Baird,P. A. N. S.Nov.1859, 305 (CapeSt.Lucas).—Elliot,Illust. Am. Birds, I, pl. xv(“=P. mesoleucus”).—Cooper,Orn. Cal. I, 248.Sp. Char.Similar tovar.mesoleucus, having, like it, a distinctly rufous crown and white abdomen. Differing, however, in the following respects: The pale ochraceous gular area is more sharply defined, the buff being confined within the encircling series of dusky spots; the buff is palest posteriorly, instead of directly the opposite. The rufous of the crissal region is more restricted, only tingeing the anal region instead of invading the lower part of the abdomen, the white beneath also is shifted farther back, covering the abdomen alone, instead of the breast, the whole jugulum being distinctly ashy, like the sides. Wing, 3.80; tail, 4.25.Hab.CapeSt.Lucas.A very large series of specimens from CapeSt.Lucas agree in possession of the characters pointed out above, distinguishing them frommesoleucus, to which race the present one is most nearly related.Habits.The White-throated or Cape Towhee of CapeSt.Lucas was first met with by Mr. Xantus in the southern extremity of the peninsula of Lower California, and described by Professor Baird in 1859. Its close resemblance toP. mesoleucussuggests an equal similarity as to its habits, in regard to which we possess no actual knowledge. Mr. Xantus has furnished us with no memoranda as to the manners of the bird. We have only the brief mention among his notes to the effect thatNo.4,855 is the nest with four eggs of thisPipilo, found in a wildHumulusthicket; and thatNo.5,076 is a nest with eggs of the same, found in a thicket of wild roses in the garden fence.Judging from the large number of the nests and eggs of this species collected by that gentleman at CapeSt.Lucas, it would seem to be very abundant in that locality.The eggs of this variety measure .95 of an inch in length and .72 in breadth. They bear a strong resemblance to those of theP. fuscus, but the markings are darker and more distinctly defined, standing out with a clear and striking effect, in marked contrast with the light background. The ground-color of the egg is a light tint of robin-blue. The markings of dots, dashes, and lines are all about the larger end, and are of a deep dark shade of purplish-brown, so dark as, except in a strong light, to be undistinguishable from black.SECTION III.Brown; throat without light patch.Pipilo aberti,Baird.ABERT’S TOWHEE.Pipilo aberti,Baird, Stansbury’sRep.Great Salt Lake, Zoölogy, June, 1852, 325 (New Mexico).—Ib.Birds N. Am.1858, 516,pl. xxx.—Kennerly,P. R. R. X, b,pl. xxx.—Heermann,X, c, 15.—Cooper,Orn. Cal.1, 244.Kieneria aberti,Bonap.Comptes Rendus,XL, 1855, 356.Illustration: 6748 male symbol6748♂Sp. Char.General color of upper parts pale brownish yellowish-red; beneath brighter, and more ochraceous, especially on the under coverts, palest on the middle of the belly. Sides of head anterior to eyes, and chin dark brown. Bill and legs yellowish. Length, 9 inches; wing, 3.70; tail, 4.85.Hab.Base of Rocky Mountains in New Mexico. Valley of Gila and Colorado.This plainly colored bird is perhaps the largest of the North American Finches, and is without any blotches, spots, or variations of importance from one color, except on the chin and sides of the head. The bill is similar to that ofP. erythrophthalmus, but the cutting edge is less concave and moresinuated. The tail is more graduated; the claws thicker and stronger. The wings are short and much rounded; the first quill shorter than the secondaries; fifth and fourth longest.It may be easily distinguished from all the varieties offuscusby the blackish lores and chin, as well as by the absence of any colored gular area, there being, instead, a pinkish rufous tinge prevalent over the whole throat and jugulum. There are no dusky spots across the throat as infuscus.Habits.Dr. Cooper assigns the base of the Rocky Mountains, in New Mexico, and the valleys of the Gila and Colorado Rivers, as the habitat of this species. Dr. Coues speaks of it as one of the most abundant and characteristic birds of those two valleys, and adds that it ranges northward to within a few miles of Fort Whipple, but is not found in the adjacent mountains. It was common at Fort Mohave, and particularly so at Fort Yuma.Dr. Kennerly met with it at CampNo.114, New Mexico, February 6, and again at Bill Williams Fork, February 12. He states that while travelling down the Big Sandy Creek and Bill Williams Fork, in the month of February, he found them very abundant. They confined themselves to the thick bushes near the water. Generally two or three were seen together. Their motions were very rapid, and their note was a peculiar, loud, chattering sound, sharp but not disagreeable. After leaving the Great Colorado he did not see it again.On the borders of the Gila, east of Fort Yuma, Dr. Heermann found this bird in great abundance. It kept in the close sheltered thickets, where, secure from intrusion, it sought among the dead leaves for various seeds and insects and their larvæ, on which it feeds. In its habits it very much resembles thePipilo fuscus, or Cañon Finch, diving into the bushes when alarmed, and repeating, at intervals, a short chirp. After leaving the Gila River he did not meet with any more, as he followed no longer the course of any large stream, for the borders of which these birds seem to have a decided preference.Dr. Cooper regards this species as the almost exact counterpart of thePipilo fuscus. The only difference he noticed in habits was in the character of its loud note of alarm, remarkably similar, however, to that of two very distinct birds of the same valley, namely,Centurus uropygialisandPhainopepla nitens. Like the Cañon Finch, this species is said to live almost constantly on the ground, but appears rather more gregarious, especially in winter.About the first of April Dr. Cooper met with many of their nests. They were generally built in thorny shrubs, and were composed of a flooring of coarse twigs, or of green herbs, and strongly interwoven with strips of bark, grass, and leaves. One bird had taken advantage of the recent introduction of horses into the valley to obtain a lining of horse-hair for its nest. The eggs were in all cases only three, bluish-white, with brown spots and streaks in a ring near the large end, quite variable in number, and measuring oneinch by .70. One of the nests was in a low mesquite-tree, another in a dense cluster of dead twigs hanging from a cottonwood. The time required for hatching was twelve or thirteen days, and in a fortnight more the young left the nest. Dr. Cooper found nests with eggs as late as May 25, and had no doubt that they raise two or more broods in a season. He adds that the song of the male, throughout April and May, is precisely like that ofP. fuscus, and also reminded him of the notes ofP. oregonusand of the eastern Black-throated Bunting (Euspiza americana).Dr. Coues has kindly supplied me with the following interesting sketch of this species, as observed by him in Arizona:—“This species appears to have a remarkably restricted geographical distribution. I never saw it at Fort Whipple, but on the Colorado bottom in the same latitude, and thence along the river to Fort Yuma, I found it to be one of the most abundant and characteristic birds of all. At the time I observed it, in September, it was generally in small flocks, and proved rather difficult to capture, partly because the dense underbrush it inhabited was almost impenetrable, and partly on account of its natural timidity. Everything along the river-bottom is scorched with the heat, and the dry dead twigs constantly snap at a touch, with such noise that it is almost impossible to force a passage through the underbrush without alarming all its inmates. The bird occurs everywhere along the river-side, but is particularly numerous on the patches of mesquite, and the extensive areas grown up to young willows and cottonwoods, and the arrowwood (Tessaria borealis). Its ordinary cry of alarm, if not its call-note, is a loud, clear chirp, very different from the mewing sound made under similar circumstances by its congener, theP. megalonyx. The latter, as is well known, is almost exactly like that of a Catbird. I never heard the song of this bird, which appears to sing only during the breeding-season, but Dr. Cooper says it resembles that of the western BlackPipilos, and I can indorse his observation, that this is curiously like the monotonous notes of the Black-throated Bunting,—Chip, chip, chee-chee-chee; the first two syllables deliberately pronounced, the others more rapidly enunciated, with greater emphasis. The associates of this species seem to be few, if indeed they be not confined to theP. mesoleucus, a very near ally. The moult seems to me unusually protracted, as many September specimens were still in poor plumage.“Excepting my experience with this bird on the Colorado, I only met with it on the Hassayampa, a small stream a few miles from Fort Whipple, yet in a somewhat different region, across a slight mountain-ridge, lower and warmer. Two specimens were secured, adult and young, the first week in August.”Dr. Coues, on his way from Arizona to the Pacific (Ibis, 1866,p.261), mentions that he was often startled by the loud, clear, sharp chirp of this bird, which, though fringilline in character, is more than usually powerful, and is its alarm-note. Everywhere in the Colorado Valley this was one of the most characteristic birds. Fort Yuma seemed to be its head-quarters. Itis, like all its congeners, a retiring species, and keeps perseveringly in the almost impenetrable undergrowth. It is said to be more decidedly gregarious than most of the genus, often collecting in flocks of a dozen or more, wandering restlessly, yet in a cautious manner, through the thickets.A nest with eggs, procured at Fort Mohave by Dr. Cooper, is in the Smithsonian Collection (No.7,276). The egg measures .93 by .70 of an inch, is obovate in shape, being much rounded at the smaller end. Its ground-color is a dull white, without any perceptible tinge of blue,—though possibly bluish when fresh,—with heavy dots and occasional delicate, hair-like, zigzag markings of black. These markings are wholly confined to the larger end. One of the eggs has these markings much finer, consisting of minute dots, more dense, and upon the apex of the larger end. The nest is loosely built and very bulky. Its external diameter is about six inches, and its depth three. The cavity is three inches wide and two deep. It is constructed almost entirely of strips of inner bark, the coarser, ribbon-like pieces being used on the outer portion, and the finer shreds composing the lining. Externally are also a few sticks about one quarter of an inch in diameter.SECTION IV.Crown rufous; body above, olive-green.Pipilo chlorurus,Baird.GREEN-TAILED BUNTING; BLANDING’S FINCH.Fringilla chlorura, (Townsend,)Aud.Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 336 (Young).Zonotrichia chlorura,Gambel,J. A. N. Sc. Ph.2dSeries,I, 1847, 51.Embernagra chlorura,Bonap.Conspectus, 1850, 483.Fringilla blandingiana,Gambel,Pr. A. N. Sc. Ph. I, April, 1843, 260.Embernagra blandingiana,Cassin,Illus. I,III, 1853, 70,pl. xii.Pipilo rufipileus,Lafresnaye,Rev. Zoöl.XI, June, 1848, 176.—Bp.Conspectus, 1850, 487.Kieneria rufipileus,Bon.Comptes Rendus,XL, 1855, 356.Pipilo chlorura,Baird,Birds N. Am., 1858, 519.—Heerm.X, c, 15.—Cooper,Orn. Cal.1, 248.Sp. Char.Above dull grayish olive-green. Crown uniform chestnut. Forehead with superciliary stripe, and sides of the head and neck, the upper part of the breast and sides of the body, bluish-ash. Chin and upper part of throat abruptly defined white, the former margined by dusky, above which is a short white maxillary stripe. Under tail-coverts and sides of body behind brownish-yellow. Tail-feathers generally, and exterior of wings, bright olive-green, the edge and under surface of the wings bright greenish-yellow; edge of first primary white. First quill longer than eighth, fourth longest. Length, about 7 inches; wing, 3.20; tail, 3.65.Hab.Whole of the Middle Province, including the Rocky Mountains and eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada; north to beyond the 40th parallel; south to Mexico.In this species the wing is considerably rounded, the tertials considerably shorter than the primaries, and not exceeding the secondaries; the fourth quill longest, the first shorter than the sixth, the second and fifth quillsconsiderably longer than the rest. The tail is long and considerably graduated, the outer feather half an inch shortest; the feathers broad and obtusely pointed, the corners rounded.Illustration: Pipilo chlorurusPipilo chlorurus.38493The extent of the chestnut of the crown varies somewhat; more extended probably in the males. The region on the side of the head, adjoining the nostrils, is whitish; the small feathers under the eye are spotted with the same. The posterior outline of the ash of the breast is much less sharply defined than the anterior.Specimens vary in the brightness of the olive above, which is never as pure as that of the wings and tail. The olive of the tail, too, is darker than that of the wings.Illustration: Pipilo chlorurusPipilo chlorurus.A very young bird (1,896) has the whole under parts dull white, streaked and spotted on the sides of the throat and on the breast with dark brown. The crown and back are also thickly spotted. In 5,734 the ash of the breast has made its appearance; the middle of the belly is white, spotted; the chin white, encircled by spots. The spots above are restricted to near the head, and there is a small central patch of chestnut on the crown.No.1,896 is the original “Green-tailed Sparrow” killed July 12, 1834, by Townsend, and described in an extract of a letter to Mr. Audubon, published page 336 ofVol. V.of the Ornithological Biography.Habits. Dr. Kennerly, who procured a specimen of this bird at San Elizario, Tex., December 16, states that it was obtained with some difficulty. For several successive days it was found in the same place, occupying a small clump of very thick weeds. When aroused, which was only accomplished with some effort, its flight was short, rapid, and decidedly irregular. Its motions on the ground were very awkward. This species was found by Mr. Ridgway very generally distributed throughout the fertile mountain portions of the interior. It was not seen by him in California, and was first met with in the ravines at the base of the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada. On thehigh mountain-ranges it was a characteristic and the best-known singer, as well as one of the most abundant of theFringillidæ, being found in all bushy places, from the bases to the summits of the mountains. It is exclusively a summer species, arriving at Carson City about the middle of April. He describes the usual note of this bird as very peculiar, and, as nearly as can be described, a sweet laughing utterance of the syllableskeek-keek´, a little resembling thetweetof a Canary, but very musical. This curious note was generally uttered when anything unusual attracted its attention, such as the approach of an intruder. Then, with elevated tail and its very conspicuous red cap raised, it would hop familiarly and unsuspiciously about. He adds that it is a songster of high merit, in power and variety ranking very little below the song of theChondestes grammaca. The song varies in the modulations greatly with the individual, but the same general style is preserved. At times it seemed to have a slight resemblance to the song of Bewick’s Wren, and at others to that of aCyanospiza, and more rarely, to be the reproduction of a passage from the song of theChondestes.In the early part of July, near Austin, in the cañons of the mountains, he found these birds breeding in the greatest abundance, and later in the same month a few of its nests were found on the East Humboldt Mountains. All of its nests, with hardly an exception, were placed from eighteen inches to two feet above the ground, among the thick bushes of a species ofSymphoricarpus, or “snow-berry,” which grows in great abundance upon the sides of the cañons of those mountains. The maximum number of eggs was four. It was also quite a common bird in the Wahsatch Mountains, though less abundant than theP. megalonyx.Mr. Allen found this Finch quite numerous in Colorado Territory, and speaks of its song as very peculiar and very pleasing. It is said to resemble in no respect the eastern Towhee Finch, with which it is classed, but much more closely the group of Sparrows, so familiarly represented at the east by the White-throated, being like them in habits, song, and general aspect. It was more common among the foot-hills than on the plains. In Utah, according to Mr. Allen, this Finch begins to appear in numbers about September 20, from its breeding-haunts in the mountains.Dr. Coues met with this species in Arizona, but only as a spring and autumn migrant. None remained there in summer to breed, and none were found there in the winter. In its migrations it passed rapidly by Fort Whipple, being found there only during the latter part of April and the beginning of May, and during the month of September. At those seasons it appeared to him the most silent and retiring of all thePipilos. He found it very difficult to either observe its habits or to capture it. It winters sparingly at Fort Mohave.Specimens of this bird were taken near Lookout Mountain by C. S. McCarthy, and at Gilmer, in Wyoming Territory, by Mr. Durkee.Dr. Heermann, in his Report on the birds observed on the32d.parallel,under Lieutenant Parke, mentions first meeting with this species near Tucson. They were frequenting, in numbers, the thick undergrowth, and were seeking seeds and insects on the ground. They seemed inclined to shun observation, and always kept in the most retired situations. They were sociable among themselves, going about singly or in pairs, associated with thePoospiza bilineataand two or three other kinds of Finch. When started they fly low, diving into the bushes, and soon disappear from sight. Occasionally, until reaching El Paso, Texas, birds of this species were met with, mingling with the flocks of migratingFringillidæ. He there procured a pair apparently just entering upon incubation.Instead of being suited by color, like most of the otherPipilos, to inhabit dark thickets and among dry leaves, this species is clad in a gayer livery, and seems well adapted for concealment in its summer resorts, and also among the growing vegetation of the lower country during the rainy season. Dr. Heermann found a few wintering in the Colorado Valley, and yet more at San Diego, but they left both places in March. He found them silent and shy, hiding very closely in the bushes, and feeding altogether on the ground. The only note he heard, resembled the crowing note of the California Quail.Among the memoranda of Mr. Xantus, made near Fort Tejon, are the two following: “4,839, nest and two eggs (ofPipilo chlorurus) found in a dry hedge in Mr. Ritchie’s garden; 5,083, nest and eggs found in a dark garden-hedge.”The eggs of thechlorurusare like those of no otherPipilothat I have met with. They are peculiar in shape, being nearly of an exact oval, neither end being apparently much more rounded than the other. Their ground-color is white with a bluish tint, over which is profusely diffused a cloud of fine dottings of a pinkish-drab. These markings are occasionally so fine and so thickly distributed as to give to the egg the appearance of a uniform color, or as an unspotted pinkish drab-colored egg. Occasionally the dots are deeper and larger, and more sparsely diffused.In considering the eggs of thePipilosin general we find certain variations which deserve more than a passing notice. Those oferythrophthalmus,oregonus,arcticus, andmegalonyxare all fringilline in their characters, and have a marked affinity to eggs ofMelospiza, Zonotrichia, and many other genera of this order. The eggs ofaberti, fuscus, mesoleucus, andalbigulaare also all closely alike, and exhibit a very close resemblance to those of theAgelaii, and even of theIcteri, while the eggs ofP. chlorurus, though of a fringilline character, are unlike either style.
Illustration: Pipilo fuscus, variation crissalis.Pipilo fuscus,var.crissalis.5559♂Sp. Char.Above dark olive-brown, the crown with a very slight tinge of scarcely appreciable dark rufous. Under parts with the color somewhat similar, but of a lightershade, and washed with grayish; middle of the belly only whitish; the under tail-coverts pale rufous, shading into lighter about the vent and sides of lower belly; chin and throat well-defined pale rufous, margined all round by brown spots, a few of them scattered within the margin. Eyelids and sides of head, anterior to the eye, rufous like the throat. One or two feathers on the lower part of the breast with a concealed brown blotch. Outer primary not edged with white. Fifth quill longest; first shorter than ninth, or even than secondaries. Bill pale brown, darker above; legs light. Length, 8.50 inches; wing, 4.00; tail, 4.60.Hab. Coast region of California.The bill is sinuated, as inP. aberti, differing from that ofP. erythrophthalmus.This race is very similar to the originalP. fuscusof Mexico, the original description of Swainson answering almost exactly. It is, however, considerably larger; the proportions of wing are similar; and there is no decided indication of whitish in the middle of the body beneath, such as is always distinctly appreciable infuscus, and still more inmesoleucus.A young bird differs but little from the adult except in having obsolete dusky streaks below; the upper parts are uniform.Habits.The Brown, or Cañon Finch of California is found nearly throughout the State of California. Mr. Xantus obtained it at Fort Tejon, and Mr. Ridgway observed it among the chaparrals on the foothills of the western slope of the Sierras.Dr. Cooper considers the name of Cañon Finch ill applied to this species, as it is equally plentiful in level districts, wherever trees and shrubbery exist. He regards it as one of the most abundant and characteristic birds of California, residing in all the lower country west of the Sierras, and extending up the slopes of the Coast Range to the height of three thousand feet. They are said to have habits very similar to those of all the other species, living much upon the ground, and seeking their food among thedead leaves, which they greatly resemble in color. This resemblance Dr. Cooper regards as a great protection to them from Hawks; their hues also correspond with those of the earth and the dusky foliage during most of the year. They are thus less conspicuous in the light, and they venture more fearlessly forth and feed in open grounds.They have but little song, and only utter a few faint chirps and hurried notes, as they sit perched upon some low bush, in the spring. At San Diego Dr. Cooper saw the first nest with eggs on April 17, but some birds had laid much earlier, as he found young hatched by the 20th. He afterwards observed other nests, all of which were built in bushes, from two to four feet from the ground, and all but one contained three eggs; the other had four. He has found them built in low trees, and one in a vine growing over the porch of a house. The nest is formed of coarse twigs, bark, and grass, is thick and large, and is lined with fine root-fibres and finer grasses. The eggs are pale blue, spotted with purplish-brown blotches, mostly small and scattered. He gives the measurement of the eggs as .90 by .65 of an inch. In the more northern part of the State they are said to lay four eggs oftener than three. They are supposed by him to have two broods in a season.Colonel McCall has no doubt that they are found throughout California, as he has met with them from the upper waters of the Sacramento to the mouth of the Gila; the former having its origin in the extreme north, and the latter touching the extreme southern boundary of the State. It is most abundant south of Santa Barbara.Colonel McCall states that its habits and manners differ somewhat from those of the common Towhee and the Arctic Finches. Its flight is more even and regular, and is without that violent jerking of the tail from side to side, which gives such a singular appearance of awkwardness to the movements of the Towhee. It is less shy and suspicious than the Arctic. It is also much less decidedly a Ground Finch than either of the others. Its favorite abode he found to be the vicinity of watercourses, where it is generally to be seen in pairs, though he has, at times, surprised eight or ten together under the shade of a large bush at noon in a summer day, when he has had no difficulty in procuring three or four specimens before the party dispersed. It is at all times a familiar bird, boldly coming into the roads to feed, and permitting a close approach. If compelled to retreat, it darts suddenly into the thicket, but returns as soon as the cause of alarm has disappeared. Near Santa Barbara he found thirty or forty of these birds, in the month of July, dispersed over an old field of some five acres in extent, contiguous to a sea-beach, through which flowed a small stream of fresh water. They were feeding on the ground, sheltered by a rank growth of weeds. When one was flushed it flew into a neighboring tree instead of seeking shelter again in the weeds. The young at that time were fully fledged, and scarcely differed in the color of their plumage from the adults.Dr. Heermann once met with a nest of this bird built in a grapevine overhangingthe Sacramento River. He describes the eggs of this species as differing entirely from any of this genus he had ever met with, and as having so great a resemblance to the eggs of the three different species of Blackbirds inhabiting California that they were liable to be confounded with them unless marked when taken from the nest.Dr. Newberry, who found this bird very common in the Sacramento Valley, states that when he first met with it, a strange bird to him, its habit of scratching among the dry leaves under the bushes, as well as its long tail and jerking flight from one clump of bushes to another, at once indicated to him its affinities.Among the memoranda made by Mr. Xantus at Fort Tejon are the following in reference to this species: “474, nest and two eggs, found May 19 on a small thorn-bush in a very dark thicket, about six feet from the ground; 1,675, nest and one egg, on a thick thorny bush, six feet from the ground; 1,851, nest and two eggs, May 12, on a rose-bush, four feet from the ground, eggs already incubated.”The eggs of this species measure one inch by .75, have a light ground of robin-blue, and are spotted and blotched with varying shades of dark and light purple. In some the color of the blotches is so deep as not to be distinguishable from black, except in a strong light. The lighter shades are a faint lavender.Pipilo fuscus,var.mesoleucus,Baird.CAÑON BUNTING.Pipilo mesoleucus,Baird,Pr. A. N. Sc. Ph. VII, June, 1854, 119 (Rocky Mountains).—Ib.Birds N. Am.1858, 518,pl. xxix.—Kennerly,P. R. R. X, bpl. xxix.—Heerm.X, c.p.15.—Cooper,Orn. Cal.1, 247.? Pipilo fusca, “Swains.,”Sclater & Salvin,P. Z. S.1869, 361 (city of Mexico).Sp. Char.Above very dull olivaceous-brown, with a grayish tinge; hood dull chestnut, conspicuously different from the back. Sides like the back, but paler; posteriorly, and about the vent and under tail-coverts, pale brownish-red. The ashy olive-brown of the sides scarcely meeting across the breast, the lower portion of which, with the upper belly, is rather pure white. The loral region, chin, throat, and upper part of the breast, pale yellowish-rufous, finely spotted on the sides and more coarsely across the breast with brown; an obscure spot in the middle of the breast; edge of outer primary white. Bill pale brown; legs flesh-color; first quill about equal to eighth, third and fourth longest. Length, 8.50 inches; wing, 3.80; tail, 4.70.Hab.Valley of Upper Rio Grande and across to the Gila River. East to Santa Caterina, New Leon.This race is similar in general appearance toP. crissalis, but the olive-brown and rufous are both of a lighter shade. The crown is of a decided rufous, conspicuously different from the back, instead of nearly the same tint. The light reddish under the head is wider throughout, andextends down to the upper part of the breast, blending with the colors of the breast and belly, instead of being narrower, more sharply defined, and restricted to the chin and throat; it is palest anteriorly, the chin and lore being almost white. The isolated larger spot on the breast is more conspicuous; the breast and belly are quite pure white, shaded with obsolete brownish blotches, instead of being uniform grayish-brown, with only an approach to whitish in the very middle. The edges of the wing and tail feathers are a good deal lighter, the outer web of the first primary being sharply edged with pure white, instead of obscure grayish-brown. The size generally is rather smaller, the wings more pointed.Compared withP. fuscus, we find the tail decidedly longer; the wing more pointed; the first quill about equal to the eighth, instead of shorter than the secondaries. The colors generally are paler; the cap of head bright distinct rufous in strong contrast with the other plumage, instead of being only very obscurely tinged with that color. The white of belly is purer, and extends farther forward, displacing the ashy tinge almost to the buff of the throat.If we consider all the brownPipilosas modifications of one primitive species, it will be well to consider the Arizonan and New Mexican bird as the central figure around which the others are grouped. The common character will then be varied in the California race,crissalis, by the absence of decided rufous on crown, a darker shade of color, and an extension of the gray of sides over the whole under parts, almost entirely displacing the white. The wing is more rounded, and the general dimensions larger southward on the central plains of Mexico; the general tints are almost precisely as in the California bird, except that the white of belly is very evident; but the chestnut cap and extended whiteness of belly, together with the pointed wing ofmesoleucus, are wanting. InP. albigulaof CapeSt.Lucas we have the general characters ofmesoleucus, with paler colors, more restricted spots encircling throat, and a tendency to white in its lower part. In this it approachesalbicollisof Southwestern Mexico.Habits. This little-known form was first obtained by Dr. Kennerly, naturalist to the Pacific Railroad Expedition on the 35th parallel, under Lieutenant Whipple. He met with it at Bill Williams Fork, in Arizona, February 5, 1854. It was described by Professor Baird the following June. Dr. Kennerly furnished at the time no information in regard to its habits.Dr. Heermann, in his Report on the birds observed in Lieutenant Parke’s expedition, mentions having met with this species in the vicinity of Tucson. Its habits, so far as he could judge of them from his opportunities, appeared very similar to those ofPipilo aberti.Lieutenant Couch met with this species at Santa Catalina, Mexico, in April, 1853, but furnishes no information in reference to its manners. Mr. J. H. Clark, who obtained a specimen near the Copper Mines of the Mimbres, states that they were met with in abundance in the deep valleys orcañons of that region. They were almost always in or about the thick clumps of bushes, several usually being in company.Dr. Kennerly, who met with them on a second trip, in June, 1855, near Los Nogales, in Mexico, speaks of them as not very common in that region. He found them preferring the dense bushes in the valleys. When approached, they became very restless, flying from one bush to another, accompanying their motions with very peculiar notes, which he does not describe.Dr. Coues found this species abundantly distributed throughout the warmer portions of New Mexico and Arizona, from the valley of the Rio Grande to that of the Colorado. He did not observe any at Fort Whipple, though they were found breeding some twenty-five miles to the southward. He found them associating freely withPipilo aberti, and inhabiting the same regions. The two birds have very similar habits.Dr. Henry also states that this species is common in New Mexico both summer and winter, and, so far as he has observed, dwelling almost entirely among the mountains. It appeared to him very retiring in its habits, and seemed to prefer the cañons. He has seldom, if ever, observed it far from shady gorges, where, like its relative of the Eastern States, the Towhee Bunting, it passes the greater part of its time on the ground, and is generally accompanied by its congener, the Arctic Finch. When disturbed, it seeks the thickest cover, though it is by no means shy or difficult to approach. Its nest is usually constructed in the branches of a thick cedar or dwarf oak, and he has never known it to produce more than one brood in a season.Dr. Cooper states that these birds are very abundant in Southern Arizona, that their habits closely resemble those ofP. aberti, and that their eggs are similar to those ofPipilo fuscus.Pipilo fuscus,var.albigula,Baird.CAPE TOWHEE.Pipilo albigula,Baird,P. A. N. S.Nov.1859, 305 (CapeSt.Lucas).—Elliot,Illust. Am. Birds, I, pl. xv(“=P. mesoleucus”).—Cooper,Orn. Cal. I, 248.Sp. Char.Similar tovar.mesoleucus, having, like it, a distinctly rufous crown and white abdomen. Differing, however, in the following respects: The pale ochraceous gular area is more sharply defined, the buff being confined within the encircling series of dusky spots; the buff is palest posteriorly, instead of directly the opposite. The rufous of the crissal region is more restricted, only tingeing the anal region instead of invading the lower part of the abdomen, the white beneath also is shifted farther back, covering the abdomen alone, instead of the breast, the whole jugulum being distinctly ashy, like the sides. Wing, 3.80; tail, 4.25.Hab.CapeSt.Lucas.A very large series of specimens from CapeSt.Lucas agree in possession of the characters pointed out above, distinguishing them frommesoleucus, to which race the present one is most nearly related.Habits.The White-throated or Cape Towhee of CapeSt.Lucas was first met with by Mr. Xantus in the southern extremity of the peninsula of Lower California, and described by Professor Baird in 1859. Its close resemblance toP. mesoleucussuggests an equal similarity as to its habits, in regard to which we possess no actual knowledge. Mr. Xantus has furnished us with no memoranda as to the manners of the bird. We have only the brief mention among his notes to the effect thatNo.4,855 is the nest with four eggs of thisPipilo, found in a wildHumulusthicket; and thatNo.5,076 is a nest with eggs of the same, found in a thicket of wild roses in the garden fence.Judging from the large number of the nests and eggs of this species collected by that gentleman at CapeSt.Lucas, it would seem to be very abundant in that locality.The eggs of this variety measure .95 of an inch in length and .72 in breadth. They bear a strong resemblance to those of theP. fuscus, but the markings are darker and more distinctly defined, standing out with a clear and striking effect, in marked contrast with the light background. The ground-color of the egg is a light tint of robin-blue. The markings of dots, dashes, and lines are all about the larger end, and are of a deep dark shade of purplish-brown, so dark as, except in a strong light, to be undistinguishable from black.SECTION III.Brown; throat without light patch.Pipilo aberti,Baird.ABERT’S TOWHEE.Pipilo aberti,Baird, Stansbury’sRep.Great Salt Lake, Zoölogy, June, 1852, 325 (New Mexico).—Ib.Birds N. Am.1858, 516,pl. xxx.—Kennerly,P. R. R. X, b,pl. xxx.—Heermann,X, c, 15.—Cooper,Orn. Cal.1, 244.Kieneria aberti,Bonap.Comptes Rendus,XL, 1855, 356.Illustration: 6748 male symbol6748♂Sp. Char.General color of upper parts pale brownish yellowish-red; beneath brighter, and more ochraceous, especially on the under coverts, palest on the middle of the belly. Sides of head anterior to eyes, and chin dark brown. Bill and legs yellowish. Length, 9 inches; wing, 3.70; tail, 4.85.Hab.Base of Rocky Mountains in New Mexico. Valley of Gila and Colorado.This plainly colored bird is perhaps the largest of the North American Finches, and is without any blotches, spots, or variations of importance from one color, except on the chin and sides of the head. The bill is similar to that ofP. erythrophthalmus, but the cutting edge is less concave and moresinuated. The tail is more graduated; the claws thicker and stronger. The wings are short and much rounded; the first quill shorter than the secondaries; fifth and fourth longest.It may be easily distinguished from all the varieties offuscusby the blackish lores and chin, as well as by the absence of any colored gular area, there being, instead, a pinkish rufous tinge prevalent over the whole throat and jugulum. There are no dusky spots across the throat as infuscus.Habits.Dr. Cooper assigns the base of the Rocky Mountains, in New Mexico, and the valleys of the Gila and Colorado Rivers, as the habitat of this species. Dr. Coues speaks of it as one of the most abundant and characteristic birds of those two valleys, and adds that it ranges northward to within a few miles of Fort Whipple, but is not found in the adjacent mountains. It was common at Fort Mohave, and particularly so at Fort Yuma.Dr. Kennerly met with it at CampNo.114, New Mexico, February 6, and again at Bill Williams Fork, February 12. He states that while travelling down the Big Sandy Creek and Bill Williams Fork, in the month of February, he found them very abundant. They confined themselves to the thick bushes near the water. Generally two or three were seen together. Their motions were very rapid, and their note was a peculiar, loud, chattering sound, sharp but not disagreeable. After leaving the Great Colorado he did not see it again.On the borders of the Gila, east of Fort Yuma, Dr. Heermann found this bird in great abundance. It kept in the close sheltered thickets, where, secure from intrusion, it sought among the dead leaves for various seeds and insects and their larvæ, on which it feeds. In its habits it very much resembles thePipilo fuscus, or Cañon Finch, diving into the bushes when alarmed, and repeating, at intervals, a short chirp. After leaving the Gila River he did not meet with any more, as he followed no longer the course of any large stream, for the borders of which these birds seem to have a decided preference.Dr. Cooper regards this species as the almost exact counterpart of thePipilo fuscus. The only difference he noticed in habits was in the character of its loud note of alarm, remarkably similar, however, to that of two very distinct birds of the same valley, namely,Centurus uropygialisandPhainopepla nitens. Like the Cañon Finch, this species is said to live almost constantly on the ground, but appears rather more gregarious, especially in winter.About the first of April Dr. Cooper met with many of their nests. They were generally built in thorny shrubs, and were composed of a flooring of coarse twigs, or of green herbs, and strongly interwoven with strips of bark, grass, and leaves. One bird had taken advantage of the recent introduction of horses into the valley to obtain a lining of horse-hair for its nest. The eggs were in all cases only three, bluish-white, with brown spots and streaks in a ring near the large end, quite variable in number, and measuring oneinch by .70. One of the nests was in a low mesquite-tree, another in a dense cluster of dead twigs hanging from a cottonwood. The time required for hatching was twelve or thirteen days, and in a fortnight more the young left the nest. Dr. Cooper found nests with eggs as late as May 25, and had no doubt that they raise two or more broods in a season. He adds that the song of the male, throughout April and May, is precisely like that ofP. fuscus, and also reminded him of the notes ofP. oregonusand of the eastern Black-throated Bunting (Euspiza americana).Dr. Coues has kindly supplied me with the following interesting sketch of this species, as observed by him in Arizona:—“This species appears to have a remarkably restricted geographical distribution. I never saw it at Fort Whipple, but on the Colorado bottom in the same latitude, and thence along the river to Fort Yuma, I found it to be one of the most abundant and characteristic birds of all. At the time I observed it, in September, it was generally in small flocks, and proved rather difficult to capture, partly because the dense underbrush it inhabited was almost impenetrable, and partly on account of its natural timidity. Everything along the river-bottom is scorched with the heat, and the dry dead twigs constantly snap at a touch, with such noise that it is almost impossible to force a passage through the underbrush without alarming all its inmates. The bird occurs everywhere along the river-side, but is particularly numerous on the patches of mesquite, and the extensive areas grown up to young willows and cottonwoods, and the arrowwood (Tessaria borealis). Its ordinary cry of alarm, if not its call-note, is a loud, clear chirp, very different from the mewing sound made under similar circumstances by its congener, theP. megalonyx. The latter, as is well known, is almost exactly like that of a Catbird. I never heard the song of this bird, which appears to sing only during the breeding-season, but Dr. Cooper says it resembles that of the western BlackPipilos, and I can indorse his observation, that this is curiously like the monotonous notes of the Black-throated Bunting,—Chip, chip, chee-chee-chee; the first two syllables deliberately pronounced, the others more rapidly enunciated, with greater emphasis. The associates of this species seem to be few, if indeed they be not confined to theP. mesoleucus, a very near ally. The moult seems to me unusually protracted, as many September specimens were still in poor plumage.“Excepting my experience with this bird on the Colorado, I only met with it on the Hassayampa, a small stream a few miles from Fort Whipple, yet in a somewhat different region, across a slight mountain-ridge, lower and warmer. Two specimens were secured, adult and young, the first week in August.”Dr. Coues, on his way from Arizona to the Pacific (Ibis, 1866,p.261), mentions that he was often startled by the loud, clear, sharp chirp of this bird, which, though fringilline in character, is more than usually powerful, and is its alarm-note. Everywhere in the Colorado Valley this was one of the most characteristic birds. Fort Yuma seemed to be its head-quarters. Itis, like all its congeners, a retiring species, and keeps perseveringly in the almost impenetrable undergrowth. It is said to be more decidedly gregarious than most of the genus, often collecting in flocks of a dozen or more, wandering restlessly, yet in a cautious manner, through the thickets.A nest with eggs, procured at Fort Mohave by Dr. Cooper, is in the Smithsonian Collection (No.7,276). The egg measures .93 by .70 of an inch, is obovate in shape, being much rounded at the smaller end. Its ground-color is a dull white, without any perceptible tinge of blue,—though possibly bluish when fresh,—with heavy dots and occasional delicate, hair-like, zigzag markings of black. These markings are wholly confined to the larger end. One of the eggs has these markings much finer, consisting of minute dots, more dense, and upon the apex of the larger end. The nest is loosely built and very bulky. Its external diameter is about six inches, and its depth three. The cavity is three inches wide and two deep. It is constructed almost entirely of strips of inner bark, the coarser, ribbon-like pieces being used on the outer portion, and the finer shreds composing the lining. Externally are also a few sticks about one quarter of an inch in diameter.SECTION IV.Crown rufous; body above, olive-green.Pipilo chlorurus,Baird.GREEN-TAILED BUNTING; BLANDING’S FINCH.Fringilla chlorura, (Townsend,)Aud.Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 336 (Young).Zonotrichia chlorura,Gambel,J. A. N. Sc. Ph.2dSeries,I, 1847, 51.Embernagra chlorura,Bonap.Conspectus, 1850, 483.Fringilla blandingiana,Gambel,Pr. A. N. Sc. Ph. I, April, 1843, 260.Embernagra blandingiana,Cassin,Illus. I,III, 1853, 70,pl. xii.Pipilo rufipileus,Lafresnaye,Rev. Zoöl.XI, June, 1848, 176.—Bp.Conspectus, 1850, 487.Kieneria rufipileus,Bon.Comptes Rendus,XL, 1855, 356.Pipilo chlorura,Baird,Birds N. Am., 1858, 519.—Heerm.X, c, 15.—Cooper,Orn. Cal.1, 248.Sp. Char.Above dull grayish olive-green. Crown uniform chestnut. Forehead with superciliary stripe, and sides of the head and neck, the upper part of the breast and sides of the body, bluish-ash. Chin and upper part of throat abruptly defined white, the former margined by dusky, above which is a short white maxillary stripe. Under tail-coverts and sides of body behind brownish-yellow. Tail-feathers generally, and exterior of wings, bright olive-green, the edge and under surface of the wings bright greenish-yellow; edge of first primary white. First quill longer than eighth, fourth longest. Length, about 7 inches; wing, 3.20; tail, 3.65.Hab.Whole of the Middle Province, including the Rocky Mountains and eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada; north to beyond the 40th parallel; south to Mexico.In this species the wing is considerably rounded, the tertials considerably shorter than the primaries, and not exceeding the secondaries; the fourth quill longest, the first shorter than the sixth, the second and fifth quillsconsiderably longer than the rest. The tail is long and considerably graduated, the outer feather half an inch shortest; the feathers broad and obtusely pointed, the corners rounded.Illustration: Pipilo chlorurusPipilo chlorurus.38493The extent of the chestnut of the crown varies somewhat; more extended probably in the males. The region on the side of the head, adjoining the nostrils, is whitish; the small feathers under the eye are spotted with the same. The posterior outline of the ash of the breast is much less sharply defined than the anterior.Specimens vary in the brightness of the olive above, which is never as pure as that of the wings and tail. The olive of the tail, too, is darker than that of the wings.Illustration: Pipilo chlorurusPipilo chlorurus.A very young bird (1,896) has the whole under parts dull white, streaked and spotted on the sides of the throat and on the breast with dark brown. The crown and back are also thickly spotted. In 5,734 the ash of the breast has made its appearance; the middle of the belly is white, spotted; the chin white, encircled by spots. The spots above are restricted to near the head, and there is a small central patch of chestnut on the crown.No.1,896 is the original “Green-tailed Sparrow” killed July 12, 1834, by Townsend, and described in an extract of a letter to Mr. Audubon, published page 336 ofVol. V.of the Ornithological Biography.Habits. Dr. Kennerly, who procured a specimen of this bird at San Elizario, Tex., December 16, states that it was obtained with some difficulty. For several successive days it was found in the same place, occupying a small clump of very thick weeds. When aroused, which was only accomplished with some effort, its flight was short, rapid, and decidedly irregular. Its motions on the ground were very awkward. This species was found by Mr. Ridgway very generally distributed throughout the fertile mountain portions of the interior. It was not seen by him in California, and was first met with in the ravines at the base of the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada. On thehigh mountain-ranges it was a characteristic and the best-known singer, as well as one of the most abundant of theFringillidæ, being found in all bushy places, from the bases to the summits of the mountains. It is exclusively a summer species, arriving at Carson City about the middle of April. He describes the usual note of this bird as very peculiar, and, as nearly as can be described, a sweet laughing utterance of the syllableskeek-keek´, a little resembling thetweetof a Canary, but very musical. This curious note was generally uttered when anything unusual attracted its attention, such as the approach of an intruder. Then, with elevated tail and its very conspicuous red cap raised, it would hop familiarly and unsuspiciously about. He adds that it is a songster of high merit, in power and variety ranking very little below the song of theChondestes grammaca. The song varies in the modulations greatly with the individual, but the same general style is preserved. At times it seemed to have a slight resemblance to the song of Bewick’s Wren, and at others to that of aCyanospiza, and more rarely, to be the reproduction of a passage from the song of theChondestes.In the early part of July, near Austin, in the cañons of the mountains, he found these birds breeding in the greatest abundance, and later in the same month a few of its nests were found on the East Humboldt Mountains. All of its nests, with hardly an exception, were placed from eighteen inches to two feet above the ground, among the thick bushes of a species ofSymphoricarpus, or “snow-berry,” which grows in great abundance upon the sides of the cañons of those mountains. The maximum number of eggs was four. It was also quite a common bird in the Wahsatch Mountains, though less abundant than theP. megalonyx.Mr. Allen found this Finch quite numerous in Colorado Territory, and speaks of its song as very peculiar and very pleasing. It is said to resemble in no respect the eastern Towhee Finch, with which it is classed, but much more closely the group of Sparrows, so familiarly represented at the east by the White-throated, being like them in habits, song, and general aspect. It was more common among the foot-hills than on the plains. In Utah, according to Mr. Allen, this Finch begins to appear in numbers about September 20, from its breeding-haunts in the mountains.Dr. Coues met with this species in Arizona, but only as a spring and autumn migrant. None remained there in summer to breed, and none were found there in the winter. In its migrations it passed rapidly by Fort Whipple, being found there only during the latter part of April and the beginning of May, and during the month of September. At those seasons it appeared to him the most silent and retiring of all thePipilos. He found it very difficult to either observe its habits or to capture it. It winters sparingly at Fort Mohave.Specimens of this bird were taken near Lookout Mountain by C. S. McCarthy, and at Gilmer, in Wyoming Territory, by Mr. Durkee.Dr. Heermann, in his Report on the birds observed on the32d.parallel,under Lieutenant Parke, mentions first meeting with this species near Tucson. They were frequenting, in numbers, the thick undergrowth, and were seeking seeds and insects on the ground. They seemed inclined to shun observation, and always kept in the most retired situations. They were sociable among themselves, going about singly or in pairs, associated with thePoospiza bilineataand two or three other kinds of Finch. When started they fly low, diving into the bushes, and soon disappear from sight. Occasionally, until reaching El Paso, Texas, birds of this species were met with, mingling with the flocks of migratingFringillidæ. He there procured a pair apparently just entering upon incubation.Instead of being suited by color, like most of the otherPipilos, to inhabit dark thickets and among dry leaves, this species is clad in a gayer livery, and seems well adapted for concealment in its summer resorts, and also among the growing vegetation of the lower country during the rainy season. Dr. Heermann found a few wintering in the Colorado Valley, and yet more at San Diego, but they left both places in March. He found them silent and shy, hiding very closely in the bushes, and feeding altogether on the ground. The only note he heard, resembled the crowing note of the California Quail.Among the memoranda of Mr. Xantus, made near Fort Tejon, are the two following: “4,839, nest and two eggs (ofPipilo chlorurus) found in a dry hedge in Mr. Ritchie’s garden; 5,083, nest and eggs found in a dark garden-hedge.”The eggs of thechlorurusare like those of no otherPipilothat I have met with. They are peculiar in shape, being nearly of an exact oval, neither end being apparently much more rounded than the other. Their ground-color is white with a bluish tint, over which is profusely diffused a cloud of fine dottings of a pinkish-drab. These markings are occasionally so fine and so thickly distributed as to give to the egg the appearance of a uniform color, or as an unspotted pinkish drab-colored egg. Occasionally the dots are deeper and larger, and more sparsely diffused.In considering the eggs of thePipilosin general we find certain variations which deserve more than a passing notice. Those oferythrophthalmus,oregonus,arcticus, andmegalonyxare all fringilline in their characters, and have a marked affinity to eggs ofMelospiza, Zonotrichia, and many other genera of this order. The eggs ofaberti, fuscus, mesoleucus, andalbigulaare also all closely alike, and exhibit a very close resemblance to those of theAgelaii, and even of theIcteri, while the eggs ofP. chlorurus, though of a fringilline character, are unlike either style.
Illustration: Pipilo fuscus, variation crissalis.Pipilo fuscus,var.crissalis.5559♂
Pipilo fuscus,var.crissalis.5559♂
Sp. Char.Above dark olive-brown, the crown with a very slight tinge of scarcely appreciable dark rufous. Under parts with the color somewhat similar, but of a lightershade, and washed with grayish; middle of the belly only whitish; the under tail-coverts pale rufous, shading into lighter about the vent and sides of lower belly; chin and throat well-defined pale rufous, margined all round by brown spots, a few of them scattered within the margin. Eyelids and sides of head, anterior to the eye, rufous like the throat. One or two feathers on the lower part of the breast with a concealed brown blotch. Outer primary not edged with white. Fifth quill longest; first shorter than ninth, or even than secondaries. Bill pale brown, darker above; legs light. Length, 8.50 inches; wing, 4.00; tail, 4.60.
Hab. Coast region of California.
The bill is sinuated, as inP. aberti, differing from that ofP. erythrophthalmus.
This race is very similar to the originalP. fuscusof Mexico, the original description of Swainson answering almost exactly. It is, however, considerably larger; the proportions of wing are similar; and there is no decided indication of whitish in the middle of the body beneath, such as is always distinctly appreciable infuscus, and still more inmesoleucus.
A young bird differs but little from the adult except in having obsolete dusky streaks below; the upper parts are uniform.
Habits.The Brown, or Cañon Finch of California is found nearly throughout the State of California. Mr. Xantus obtained it at Fort Tejon, and Mr. Ridgway observed it among the chaparrals on the foothills of the western slope of the Sierras.
Dr. Cooper considers the name of Cañon Finch ill applied to this species, as it is equally plentiful in level districts, wherever trees and shrubbery exist. He regards it as one of the most abundant and characteristic birds of California, residing in all the lower country west of the Sierras, and extending up the slopes of the Coast Range to the height of three thousand feet. They are said to have habits very similar to those of all the other species, living much upon the ground, and seeking their food among thedead leaves, which they greatly resemble in color. This resemblance Dr. Cooper regards as a great protection to them from Hawks; their hues also correspond with those of the earth and the dusky foliage during most of the year. They are thus less conspicuous in the light, and they venture more fearlessly forth and feed in open grounds.
They have but little song, and only utter a few faint chirps and hurried notes, as they sit perched upon some low bush, in the spring. At San Diego Dr. Cooper saw the first nest with eggs on April 17, but some birds had laid much earlier, as he found young hatched by the 20th. He afterwards observed other nests, all of which were built in bushes, from two to four feet from the ground, and all but one contained three eggs; the other had four. He has found them built in low trees, and one in a vine growing over the porch of a house. The nest is formed of coarse twigs, bark, and grass, is thick and large, and is lined with fine root-fibres and finer grasses. The eggs are pale blue, spotted with purplish-brown blotches, mostly small and scattered. He gives the measurement of the eggs as .90 by .65 of an inch. In the more northern part of the State they are said to lay four eggs oftener than three. They are supposed by him to have two broods in a season.
Colonel McCall has no doubt that they are found throughout California, as he has met with them from the upper waters of the Sacramento to the mouth of the Gila; the former having its origin in the extreme north, and the latter touching the extreme southern boundary of the State. It is most abundant south of Santa Barbara.
Colonel McCall states that its habits and manners differ somewhat from those of the common Towhee and the Arctic Finches. Its flight is more even and regular, and is without that violent jerking of the tail from side to side, which gives such a singular appearance of awkwardness to the movements of the Towhee. It is less shy and suspicious than the Arctic. It is also much less decidedly a Ground Finch than either of the others. Its favorite abode he found to be the vicinity of watercourses, where it is generally to be seen in pairs, though he has, at times, surprised eight or ten together under the shade of a large bush at noon in a summer day, when he has had no difficulty in procuring three or four specimens before the party dispersed. It is at all times a familiar bird, boldly coming into the roads to feed, and permitting a close approach. If compelled to retreat, it darts suddenly into the thicket, but returns as soon as the cause of alarm has disappeared. Near Santa Barbara he found thirty or forty of these birds, in the month of July, dispersed over an old field of some five acres in extent, contiguous to a sea-beach, through which flowed a small stream of fresh water. They were feeding on the ground, sheltered by a rank growth of weeds. When one was flushed it flew into a neighboring tree instead of seeking shelter again in the weeds. The young at that time were fully fledged, and scarcely differed in the color of their plumage from the adults.
Dr. Heermann once met with a nest of this bird built in a grapevine overhangingthe Sacramento River. He describes the eggs of this species as differing entirely from any of this genus he had ever met with, and as having so great a resemblance to the eggs of the three different species of Blackbirds inhabiting California that they were liable to be confounded with them unless marked when taken from the nest.
Dr. Newberry, who found this bird very common in the Sacramento Valley, states that when he first met with it, a strange bird to him, its habit of scratching among the dry leaves under the bushes, as well as its long tail and jerking flight from one clump of bushes to another, at once indicated to him its affinities.
Among the memoranda made by Mr. Xantus at Fort Tejon are the following in reference to this species: “474, nest and two eggs, found May 19 on a small thorn-bush in a very dark thicket, about six feet from the ground; 1,675, nest and one egg, on a thick thorny bush, six feet from the ground; 1,851, nest and two eggs, May 12, on a rose-bush, four feet from the ground, eggs already incubated.”
The eggs of this species measure one inch by .75, have a light ground of robin-blue, and are spotted and blotched with varying shades of dark and light purple. In some the color of the blotches is so deep as not to be distinguishable from black, except in a strong light. The lighter shades are a faint lavender.
Pipilo fuscus,var.mesoleucus,Baird.
CAÑON BUNTING.
Pipilo mesoleucus,Baird,Pr. A. N. Sc. Ph. VII, June, 1854, 119 (Rocky Mountains).—Ib.Birds N. Am.1858, 518,pl. xxix.—Kennerly,P. R. R. X, bpl. xxix.—Heerm.X, c.p.15.—Cooper,Orn. Cal.1, 247.? Pipilo fusca, “Swains.,”Sclater & Salvin,P. Z. S.1869, 361 (city of Mexico).
Sp. Char.Above very dull olivaceous-brown, with a grayish tinge; hood dull chestnut, conspicuously different from the back. Sides like the back, but paler; posteriorly, and about the vent and under tail-coverts, pale brownish-red. The ashy olive-brown of the sides scarcely meeting across the breast, the lower portion of which, with the upper belly, is rather pure white. The loral region, chin, throat, and upper part of the breast, pale yellowish-rufous, finely spotted on the sides and more coarsely across the breast with brown; an obscure spot in the middle of the breast; edge of outer primary white. Bill pale brown; legs flesh-color; first quill about equal to eighth, third and fourth longest. Length, 8.50 inches; wing, 3.80; tail, 4.70.
Hab.Valley of Upper Rio Grande and across to the Gila River. East to Santa Caterina, New Leon.
This race is similar in general appearance toP. crissalis, but the olive-brown and rufous are both of a lighter shade. The crown is of a decided rufous, conspicuously different from the back, instead of nearly the same tint. The light reddish under the head is wider throughout, andextends down to the upper part of the breast, blending with the colors of the breast and belly, instead of being narrower, more sharply defined, and restricted to the chin and throat; it is palest anteriorly, the chin and lore being almost white. The isolated larger spot on the breast is more conspicuous; the breast and belly are quite pure white, shaded with obsolete brownish blotches, instead of being uniform grayish-brown, with only an approach to whitish in the very middle. The edges of the wing and tail feathers are a good deal lighter, the outer web of the first primary being sharply edged with pure white, instead of obscure grayish-brown. The size generally is rather smaller, the wings more pointed.
Compared withP. fuscus, we find the tail decidedly longer; the wing more pointed; the first quill about equal to the eighth, instead of shorter than the secondaries. The colors generally are paler; the cap of head bright distinct rufous in strong contrast with the other plumage, instead of being only very obscurely tinged with that color. The white of belly is purer, and extends farther forward, displacing the ashy tinge almost to the buff of the throat.
If we consider all the brownPipilosas modifications of one primitive species, it will be well to consider the Arizonan and New Mexican bird as the central figure around which the others are grouped. The common character will then be varied in the California race,crissalis, by the absence of decided rufous on crown, a darker shade of color, and an extension of the gray of sides over the whole under parts, almost entirely displacing the white. The wing is more rounded, and the general dimensions larger southward on the central plains of Mexico; the general tints are almost precisely as in the California bird, except that the white of belly is very evident; but the chestnut cap and extended whiteness of belly, together with the pointed wing ofmesoleucus, are wanting. InP. albigulaof CapeSt.Lucas we have the general characters ofmesoleucus, with paler colors, more restricted spots encircling throat, and a tendency to white in its lower part. In this it approachesalbicollisof Southwestern Mexico.
Habits. This little-known form was first obtained by Dr. Kennerly, naturalist to the Pacific Railroad Expedition on the 35th parallel, under Lieutenant Whipple. He met with it at Bill Williams Fork, in Arizona, February 5, 1854. It was described by Professor Baird the following June. Dr. Kennerly furnished at the time no information in regard to its habits.
Dr. Heermann, in his Report on the birds observed in Lieutenant Parke’s expedition, mentions having met with this species in the vicinity of Tucson. Its habits, so far as he could judge of them from his opportunities, appeared very similar to those ofPipilo aberti.
Lieutenant Couch met with this species at Santa Catalina, Mexico, in April, 1853, but furnishes no information in reference to its manners. Mr. J. H. Clark, who obtained a specimen near the Copper Mines of the Mimbres, states that they were met with in abundance in the deep valleys orcañons of that region. They were almost always in or about the thick clumps of bushes, several usually being in company.
Dr. Kennerly, who met with them on a second trip, in June, 1855, near Los Nogales, in Mexico, speaks of them as not very common in that region. He found them preferring the dense bushes in the valleys. When approached, they became very restless, flying from one bush to another, accompanying their motions with very peculiar notes, which he does not describe.
Dr. Coues found this species abundantly distributed throughout the warmer portions of New Mexico and Arizona, from the valley of the Rio Grande to that of the Colorado. He did not observe any at Fort Whipple, though they were found breeding some twenty-five miles to the southward. He found them associating freely withPipilo aberti, and inhabiting the same regions. The two birds have very similar habits.
Dr. Henry also states that this species is common in New Mexico both summer and winter, and, so far as he has observed, dwelling almost entirely among the mountains. It appeared to him very retiring in its habits, and seemed to prefer the cañons. He has seldom, if ever, observed it far from shady gorges, where, like its relative of the Eastern States, the Towhee Bunting, it passes the greater part of its time on the ground, and is generally accompanied by its congener, the Arctic Finch. When disturbed, it seeks the thickest cover, though it is by no means shy or difficult to approach. Its nest is usually constructed in the branches of a thick cedar or dwarf oak, and he has never known it to produce more than one brood in a season.
Dr. Cooper states that these birds are very abundant in Southern Arizona, that their habits closely resemble those ofP. aberti, and that their eggs are similar to those ofPipilo fuscus.
Pipilo fuscus,var.albigula,Baird.
CAPE TOWHEE.
Pipilo albigula,Baird,P. A. N. S.Nov.1859, 305 (CapeSt.Lucas).—Elliot,Illust. Am. Birds, I, pl. xv(“=P. mesoleucus”).—Cooper,Orn. Cal. I, 248.
Sp. Char.Similar tovar.mesoleucus, having, like it, a distinctly rufous crown and white abdomen. Differing, however, in the following respects: The pale ochraceous gular area is more sharply defined, the buff being confined within the encircling series of dusky spots; the buff is palest posteriorly, instead of directly the opposite. The rufous of the crissal region is more restricted, only tingeing the anal region instead of invading the lower part of the abdomen, the white beneath also is shifted farther back, covering the abdomen alone, instead of the breast, the whole jugulum being distinctly ashy, like the sides. Wing, 3.80; tail, 4.25.
Hab.CapeSt.Lucas.
A very large series of specimens from CapeSt.Lucas agree in possession of the characters pointed out above, distinguishing them frommesoleucus, to which race the present one is most nearly related.
Habits.The White-throated or Cape Towhee of CapeSt.Lucas was first met with by Mr. Xantus in the southern extremity of the peninsula of Lower California, and described by Professor Baird in 1859. Its close resemblance toP. mesoleucussuggests an equal similarity as to its habits, in regard to which we possess no actual knowledge. Mr. Xantus has furnished us with no memoranda as to the manners of the bird. We have only the brief mention among his notes to the effect thatNo.4,855 is the nest with four eggs of thisPipilo, found in a wildHumulusthicket; and thatNo.5,076 is a nest with eggs of the same, found in a thicket of wild roses in the garden fence.
Judging from the large number of the nests and eggs of this species collected by that gentleman at CapeSt.Lucas, it would seem to be very abundant in that locality.
The eggs of this variety measure .95 of an inch in length and .72 in breadth. They bear a strong resemblance to those of theP. fuscus, but the markings are darker and more distinctly defined, standing out with a clear and striking effect, in marked contrast with the light background. The ground-color of the egg is a light tint of robin-blue. The markings of dots, dashes, and lines are all about the larger end, and are of a deep dark shade of purplish-brown, so dark as, except in a strong light, to be undistinguishable from black.
SECTION III.
Brown; throat without light patch.
Pipilo aberti,Baird.
ABERT’S TOWHEE.
Pipilo aberti,Baird, Stansbury’sRep.Great Salt Lake, Zoölogy, June, 1852, 325 (New Mexico).—Ib.Birds N. Am.1858, 516,pl. xxx.—Kennerly,P. R. R. X, b,pl. xxx.—Heermann,X, c, 15.—Cooper,Orn. Cal.1, 244.Kieneria aberti,Bonap.Comptes Rendus,XL, 1855, 356.
Illustration: 6748 male symbol6748♂
6748♂
Sp. Char.General color of upper parts pale brownish yellowish-red; beneath brighter, and more ochraceous, especially on the under coverts, palest on the middle of the belly. Sides of head anterior to eyes, and chin dark brown. Bill and legs yellowish. Length, 9 inches; wing, 3.70; tail, 4.85.
Hab.Base of Rocky Mountains in New Mexico. Valley of Gila and Colorado.
This plainly colored bird is perhaps the largest of the North American Finches, and is without any blotches, spots, or variations of importance from one color, except on the chin and sides of the head. The bill is similar to that ofP. erythrophthalmus, but the cutting edge is less concave and moresinuated. The tail is more graduated; the claws thicker and stronger. The wings are short and much rounded; the first quill shorter than the secondaries; fifth and fourth longest.
It may be easily distinguished from all the varieties offuscusby the blackish lores and chin, as well as by the absence of any colored gular area, there being, instead, a pinkish rufous tinge prevalent over the whole throat and jugulum. There are no dusky spots across the throat as infuscus.
Habits.Dr. Cooper assigns the base of the Rocky Mountains, in New Mexico, and the valleys of the Gila and Colorado Rivers, as the habitat of this species. Dr. Coues speaks of it as one of the most abundant and characteristic birds of those two valleys, and adds that it ranges northward to within a few miles of Fort Whipple, but is not found in the adjacent mountains. It was common at Fort Mohave, and particularly so at Fort Yuma.
Dr. Kennerly met with it at CampNo.114, New Mexico, February 6, and again at Bill Williams Fork, February 12. He states that while travelling down the Big Sandy Creek and Bill Williams Fork, in the month of February, he found them very abundant. They confined themselves to the thick bushes near the water. Generally two or three were seen together. Their motions were very rapid, and their note was a peculiar, loud, chattering sound, sharp but not disagreeable. After leaving the Great Colorado he did not see it again.
On the borders of the Gila, east of Fort Yuma, Dr. Heermann found this bird in great abundance. It kept in the close sheltered thickets, where, secure from intrusion, it sought among the dead leaves for various seeds and insects and their larvæ, on which it feeds. In its habits it very much resembles thePipilo fuscus, or Cañon Finch, diving into the bushes when alarmed, and repeating, at intervals, a short chirp. After leaving the Gila River he did not meet with any more, as he followed no longer the course of any large stream, for the borders of which these birds seem to have a decided preference.
Dr. Cooper regards this species as the almost exact counterpart of thePipilo fuscus. The only difference he noticed in habits was in the character of its loud note of alarm, remarkably similar, however, to that of two very distinct birds of the same valley, namely,Centurus uropygialisandPhainopepla nitens. Like the Cañon Finch, this species is said to live almost constantly on the ground, but appears rather more gregarious, especially in winter.
About the first of April Dr. Cooper met with many of their nests. They were generally built in thorny shrubs, and were composed of a flooring of coarse twigs, or of green herbs, and strongly interwoven with strips of bark, grass, and leaves. One bird had taken advantage of the recent introduction of horses into the valley to obtain a lining of horse-hair for its nest. The eggs were in all cases only three, bluish-white, with brown spots and streaks in a ring near the large end, quite variable in number, and measuring oneinch by .70. One of the nests was in a low mesquite-tree, another in a dense cluster of dead twigs hanging from a cottonwood. The time required for hatching was twelve or thirteen days, and in a fortnight more the young left the nest. Dr. Cooper found nests with eggs as late as May 25, and had no doubt that they raise two or more broods in a season. He adds that the song of the male, throughout April and May, is precisely like that ofP. fuscus, and also reminded him of the notes ofP. oregonusand of the eastern Black-throated Bunting (Euspiza americana).
Dr. Coues has kindly supplied me with the following interesting sketch of this species, as observed by him in Arizona:—
“This species appears to have a remarkably restricted geographical distribution. I never saw it at Fort Whipple, but on the Colorado bottom in the same latitude, and thence along the river to Fort Yuma, I found it to be one of the most abundant and characteristic birds of all. At the time I observed it, in September, it was generally in small flocks, and proved rather difficult to capture, partly because the dense underbrush it inhabited was almost impenetrable, and partly on account of its natural timidity. Everything along the river-bottom is scorched with the heat, and the dry dead twigs constantly snap at a touch, with such noise that it is almost impossible to force a passage through the underbrush without alarming all its inmates. The bird occurs everywhere along the river-side, but is particularly numerous on the patches of mesquite, and the extensive areas grown up to young willows and cottonwoods, and the arrowwood (Tessaria borealis). Its ordinary cry of alarm, if not its call-note, is a loud, clear chirp, very different from the mewing sound made under similar circumstances by its congener, theP. megalonyx. The latter, as is well known, is almost exactly like that of a Catbird. I never heard the song of this bird, which appears to sing only during the breeding-season, but Dr. Cooper says it resembles that of the western BlackPipilos, and I can indorse his observation, that this is curiously like the monotonous notes of the Black-throated Bunting,—Chip, chip, chee-chee-chee; the first two syllables deliberately pronounced, the others more rapidly enunciated, with greater emphasis. The associates of this species seem to be few, if indeed they be not confined to theP. mesoleucus, a very near ally. The moult seems to me unusually protracted, as many September specimens were still in poor plumage.
“Excepting my experience with this bird on the Colorado, I only met with it on the Hassayampa, a small stream a few miles from Fort Whipple, yet in a somewhat different region, across a slight mountain-ridge, lower and warmer. Two specimens were secured, adult and young, the first week in August.”
Dr. Coues, on his way from Arizona to the Pacific (Ibis, 1866,p.261), mentions that he was often startled by the loud, clear, sharp chirp of this bird, which, though fringilline in character, is more than usually powerful, and is its alarm-note. Everywhere in the Colorado Valley this was one of the most characteristic birds. Fort Yuma seemed to be its head-quarters. Itis, like all its congeners, a retiring species, and keeps perseveringly in the almost impenetrable undergrowth. It is said to be more decidedly gregarious than most of the genus, often collecting in flocks of a dozen or more, wandering restlessly, yet in a cautious manner, through the thickets.
A nest with eggs, procured at Fort Mohave by Dr. Cooper, is in the Smithsonian Collection (No.7,276). The egg measures .93 by .70 of an inch, is obovate in shape, being much rounded at the smaller end. Its ground-color is a dull white, without any perceptible tinge of blue,—though possibly bluish when fresh,—with heavy dots and occasional delicate, hair-like, zigzag markings of black. These markings are wholly confined to the larger end. One of the eggs has these markings much finer, consisting of minute dots, more dense, and upon the apex of the larger end. The nest is loosely built and very bulky. Its external diameter is about six inches, and its depth three. The cavity is three inches wide and two deep. It is constructed almost entirely of strips of inner bark, the coarser, ribbon-like pieces being used on the outer portion, and the finer shreds composing the lining. Externally are also a few sticks about one quarter of an inch in diameter.
SECTION IV.
Crown rufous; body above, olive-green.
Pipilo chlorurus,Baird.
GREEN-TAILED BUNTING; BLANDING’S FINCH.
Fringilla chlorura, (Townsend,)Aud.Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 336 (Young).Zonotrichia chlorura,Gambel,J. A. N. Sc. Ph.2dSeries,I, 1847, 51.Embernagra chlorura,Bonap.Conspectus, 1850, 483.Fringilla blandingiana,Gambel,Pr. A. N. Sc. Ph. I, April, 1843, 260.Embernagra blandingiana,Cassin,Illus. I,III, 1853, 70,pl. xii.Pipilo rufipileus,Lafresnaye,Rev. Zoöl.XI, June, 1848, 176.—Bp.Conspectus, 1850, 487.Kieneria rufipileus,Bon.Comptes Rendus,XL, 1855, 356.Pipilo chlorura,Baird,Birds N. Am., 1858, 519.—Heerm.X, c, 15.—Cooper,Orn. Cal.1, 248.
Sp. Char.Above dull grayish olive-green. Crown uniform chestnut. Forehead with superciliary stripe, and sides of the head and neck, the upper part of the breast and sides of the body, bluish-ash. Chin and upper part of throat abruptly defined white, the former margined by dusky, above which is a short white maxillary stripe. Under tail-coverts and sides of body behind brownish-yellow. Tail-feathers generally, and exterior of wings, bright olive-green, the edge and under surface of the wings bright greenish-yellow; edge of first primary white. First quill longer than eighth, fourth longest. Length, about 7 inches; wing, 3.20; tail, 3.65.
Hab.Whole of the Middle Province, including the Rocky Mountains and eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada; north to beyond the 40th parallel; south to Mexico.
In this species the wing is considerably rounded, the tertials considerably shorter than the primaries, and not exceeding the secondaries; the fourth quill longest, the first shorter than the sixth, the second and fifth quillsconsiderably longer than the rest. The tail is long and considerably graduated, the outer feather half an inch shortest; the feathers broad and obtusely pointed, the corners rounded.
Illustration: Pipilo chlorurusPipilo chlorurus.38493
Pipilo chlorurus.38493
The extent of the chestnut of the crown varies somewhat; more extended probably in the males. The region on the side of the head, adjoining the nostrils, is whitish; the small feathers under the eye are spotted with the same. The posterior outline of the ash of the breast is much less sharply defined than the anterior.
Specimens vary in the brightness of the olive above, which is never as pure as that of the wings and tail. The olive of the tail, too, is darker than that of the wings.
Illustration: Pipilo chlorurusPipilo chlorurus.
Pipilo chlorurus.
A very young bird (1,896) has the whole under parts dull white, streaked and spotted on the sides of the throat and on the breast with dark brown. The crown and back are also thickly spotted. In 5,734 the ash of the breast has made its appearance; the middle of the belly is white, spotted; the chin white, encircled by spots. The spots above are restricted to near the head, and there is a small central patch of chestnut on the crown.
No.1,896 is the original “Green-tailed Sparrow” killed July 12, 1834, by Townsend, and described in an extract of a letter to Mr. Audubon, published page 336 ofVol. V.of the Ornithological Biography.
Habits. Dr. Kennerly, who procured a specimen of this bird at San Elizario, Tex., December 16, states that it was obtained with some difficulty. For several successive days it was found in the same place, occupying a small clump of very thick weeds. When aroused, which was only accomplished with some effort, its flight was short, rapid, and decidedly irregular. Its motions on the ground were very awkward. This species was found by Mr. Ridgway very generally distributed throughout the fertile mountain portions of the interior. It was not seen by him in California, and was first met with in the ravines at the base of the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada. On thehigh mountain-ranges it was a characteristic and the best-known singer, as well as one of the most abundant of theFringillidæ, being found in all bushy places, from the bases to the summits of the mountains. It is exclusively a summer species, arriving at Carson City about the middle of April. He describes the usual note of this bird as very peculiar, and, as nearly as can be described, a sweet laughing utterance of the syllableskeek-keek´, a little resembling thetweetof a Canary, but very musical. This curious note was generally uttered when anything unusual attracted its attention, such as the approach of an intruder. Then, with elevated tail and its very conspicuous red cap raised, it would hop familiarly and unsuspiciously about. He adds that it is a songster of high merit, in power and variety ranking very little below the song of theChondestes grammaca. The song varies in the modulations greatly with the individual, but the same general style is preserved. At times it seemed to have a slight resemblance to the song of Bewick’s Wren, and at others to that of aCyanospiza, and more rarely, to be the reproduction of a passage from the song of theChondestes.
In the early part of July, near Austin, in the cañons of the mountains, he found these birds breeding in the greatest abundance, and later in the same month a few of its nests were found on the East Humboldt Mountains. All of its nests, with hardly an exception, were placed from eighteen inches to two feet above the ground, among the thick bushes of a species ofSymphoricarpus, or “snow-berry,” which grows in great abundance upon the sides of the cañons of those mountains. The maximum number of eggs was four. It was also quite a common bird in the Wahsatch Mountains, though less abundant than theP. megalonyx.
Mr. Allen found this Finch quite numerous in Colorado Territory, and speaks of its song as very peculiar and very pleasing. It is said to resemble in no respect the eastern Towhee Finch, with which it is classed, but much more closely the group of Sparrows, so familiarly represented at the east by the White-throated, being like them in habits, song, and general aspect. It was more common among the foot-hills than on the plains. In Utah, according to Mr. Allen, this Finch begins to appear in numbers about September 20, from its breeding-haunts in the mountains.
Dr. Coues met with this species in Arizona, but only as a spring and autumn migrant. None remained there in summer to breed, and none were found there in the winter. In its migrations it passed rapidly by Fort Whipple, being found there only during the latter part of April and the beginning of May, and during the month of September. At those seasons it appeared to him the most silent and retiring of all thePipilos. He found it very difficult to either observe its habits or to capture it. It winters sparingly at Fort Mohave.
Specimens of this bird were taken near Lookout Mountain by C. S. McCarthy, and at Gilmer, in Wyoming Territory, by Mr. Durkee.
Dr. Heermann, in his Report on the birds observed on the32d.parallel,under Lieutenant Parke, mentions first meeting with this species near Tucson. They were frequenting, in numbers, the thick undergrowth, and were seeking seeds and insects on the ground. They seemed inclined to shun observation, and always kept in the most retired situations. They were sociable among themselves, going about singly or in pairs, associated with thePoospiza bilineataand two or three other kinds of Finch. When started they fly low, diving into the bushes, and soon disappear from sight. Occasionally, until reaching El Paso, Texas, birds of this species were met with, mingling with the flocks of migratingFringillidæ. He there procured a pair apparently just entering upon incubation.
Instead of being suited by color, like most of the otherPipilos, to inhabit dark thickets and among dry leaves, this species is clad in a gayer livery, and seems well adapted for concealment in its summer resorts, and also among the growing vegetation of the lower country during the rainy season. Dr. Heermann found a few wintering in the Colorado Valley, and yet more at San Diego, but they left both places in March. He found them silent and shy, hiding very closely in the bushes, and feeding altogether on the ground. The only note he heard, resembled the crowing note of the California Quail.
Among the memoranda of Mr. Xantus, made near Fort Tejon, are the two following: “4,839, nest and two eggs (ofPipilo chlorurus) found in a dry hedge in Mr. Ritchie’s garden; 5,083, nest and eggs found in a dark garden-hedge.”
The eggs of thechlorurusare like those of no otherPipilothat I have met with. They are peculiar in shape, being nearly of an exact oval, neither end being apparently much more rounded than the other. Their ground-color is white with a bluish tint, over which is profusely diffused a cloud of fine dottings of a pinkish-drab. These markings are occasionally so fine and so thickly distributed as to give to the egg the appearance of a uniform color, or as an unspotted pinkish drab-colored egg. Occasionally the dots are deeper and larger, and more sparsely diffused.
In considering the eggs of thePipilosin general we find certain variations which deserve more than a passing notice. Those oferythrophthalmus,oregonus,arcticus, andmegalonyxare all fringilline in their characters, and have a marked affinity to eggs ofMelospiza, Zonotrichia, and many other genera of this order. The eggs ofaberti, fuscus, mesoleucus, andalbigulaare also all closely alike, and exhibit a very close resemblance to those of theAgelaii, and even of theIcteri, while the eggs ofP. chlorurus, though of a fringilline character, are unlike either style.