_Pipilo erythrophthalmus erythrophthalmus. Case 4, Figs. 32, 33; Case 6.
Fig. 51_
The female is brown where the male is black; both
are unmistakable L. 8-1/4.
_Range._ Nests from northern Georgia and central
Kansas; winters from Ohio and Potomac Valleys to
the Gulf.
Washington, common S.R., very common T.V., Apl.
5-Oct. 21; a few winter. Ossining, common S.R.,
Apl. 21-Oct. 31. Cambridge, common S.R., Apl.
25-Oct. 15. N. Ohio, common S.R., Mch. 10-Oct. 25.
Glen Ellyn, not common, S.R., Mch. 30-Nov. 18, SE.
Minn., common S.R., Apl. 11-Nov. 8.
_Chewi['n]k, towheé_, the clear, emphatic, strongly accented call
announces the presence of a bird whose colors are as distinctive as its
notes. The Towhee feeds on the ground in and near bushy places, but when
the desire to sing comes upon him he leaves his lowly haunts and taking
a more or less exposed perch, fifteen to twenty feet from the ground,
utters his _sweet-bird-sin-n-n-g_, with an earnestness which goes far to
atone for his lack of striking musical ability. The nest is built on the
ground and the 4-5 white, finely speckled eggs are laid during the first
half of May.
The White-eyed Towhee (_P. e. alleni_) of Florida and the coast region
north to Charleston, South Carolina, has the eye yellowish instead of
red and the white markings are more restricted. Its call is higher than
that of the northern bird and its song shorter.