California Towhee

SCI Name:  Melozone crissalis
Protonym:  Fringilla crissalis Zool.Beechey'sVoy. p.19
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Passerellidae / Melozone
Taxonomy Code:  caltow
Type Locality:  no locality ; type from Monterey, Monterey County, California, fide Sharpe, 1888, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., 3, p. 754.
Author:  Vigors
Publish Year:  1839
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

MELOZONE
(Passerellidae; Ϯ Prevost's Ground Sparrow M. biarcuata) Gr. μηλον mēlon  cheek; ζωνη zōnē  girdle, belt. Reichenbach's 1850, plate LXXIX, labelled Passerinae: Pyrrhulinae genuinae, includes a variety of heavy-billed birds and shows the distinctive face pattern of this finch; "XXIX. Melozone *) RCHB.  Nat. Syst. t. LXXIX. Gürtelwange.  Von voriger Gattung [Amadina] durch dünneren (ploceus- oder finkenartigen) Schnabel und seicht doppelbogig quer abgeschnittenen Schwanz unterschieden. — Hier nur möglicher Verwechselung wegen aufgeführt, gehört nämlich unter die Tanagrinen und ist um ein Jahr später von Mr. PUCHERAN und BONAPARTE consp. 486. n. 1012. Pyrgisoma genannt worden.   109. M. biarcuata (Pyrgita — NÉBOUX. Moineau à double croissant. Venus pl. 6.  Melozone biarcuata RCHB.  Pyrgisoma — PUCHERAN. BP.    ... *) το μηλον, ου, die Wange,  ἡ ζωνη, ης, Gürtel, Bogen." (Reichenbach 1862); "Melozone Reichenbach, 1850, Av. Syst. Nat., pl. 79 [, fig. 10]. Type, by subsequent designation (Sharpe, 1888, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., 12, p. 731), Pyrgita biarcuata Prévost and Des Murs." (Paynter in Peters 1970, XIII, 180).
Var. Meloxone, Molozone.
Synon. Kieneria, Melanzona, Meloxene, Pyrgisoma.

crissale / crissalis
Mod. L. crissalis  crissal, of the vent  < crissum  vent, lower tail-coverts  < L. crissare  to copulate, “used of a certain motion of the haunches” (Coues 1882).

SUBSPECIES

California Towhee (bullata)
SCI Name: Melozone crissalis bullata
bullata / bullatus
L. bullatus  inflated, studded  < bulla  knob, stud.

California Towhee (carolae)
SCI Name: Melozone crissalis carolae
carola / carolae
● Charlotte Honorine Joséphine Pauline Contessa Primoli di Foglia (1832-1891) daughter of French ornithologist Prince Charles Bonaparte; "Avem pulcherrimam dicamus amatissimae CAROLAE PRIMOLI BONAPARTE, nomine dignae; filiae optimae, sororis, sponsae, matrisque exemplum!" (Bonaparte 1855) (Ducula).
● Carol Beehler (fl. 2007) wife of US ornithologist Dr Bruce M. Beehler (Melipotes).
● Charlotte Crittenden McGregor (b. 1841) mother of US zoologist Richard Crittenden McGregor (subsp. Melozone crissalis).
● Karoline Frederikke Franziska Stephanie Amalia Cecilia Princess of Sweden and Queen Consort of Saxony (1833-1907), known as Carola of Vasa and Saxony, wife of Albrecht King of Saxony (Parotia).

California Towhee (petulans)
SCI Name: Melozone crissalis petulans
petulans
L. petulans, petulantis  petulant, impudent, saucy  < petere  to assail.

California Towhee (crissalis)
SCI Name: Melozone crissalis crissalis
crissale / crissalis
Mod. L. crissalis  crissal, of the vent  < crissum  vent, lower tail-coverts  < L. crissare  to copulate, “used of a certain motion of the haunches” (Coues 1882).

California Towhee (eremophila)
SCI Name: Melozone crissalis eremophila
EREMOPHILA
(Alaudidae; Ϯ Horned Lark E. alpestris) Gr. ερημοφιλης erēmophilēs  desert-loving (i.e. sand-loving)  < ερημος erēmos  desert; φιλος  philos  lover; this is the Shore Lark of British authors and birdwatchers; "They frequent the sandhills upon the seashore of Carolina, and there feed on these oats, which they find scattered on the sands" (Catesby 1731); "Gattung Eremophila.   Hieher aus Europa: 1. Alauda alpestris Lin.  2. Kollyi Tem. col. 305. fig. 1.    America:  3. —  cornuta Wils. pl. 5. fig. 4.    Africa:  4. —  bilopha Tem. col. 244. fig. 1." (Boie 1828); "Eremophila Boie, 1828, Isis von Oken, 21, col. 322. Type, by subsequent designation, O. alpestris = Alauda alpestris Linnaeus (Sharpe, 1875, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, (1874), p. 651).¹   ...   ¹ Not affected by Eremophilus Humboldt, 1811, Pisces." (Peters, 1960, IX, p. 71).  Recent authors suggest that the Horned Lark E. alpestris complex be divided into five or six different species, and perhaps even more once the American subspecies have been critically studied.   
Synon. Chionophilos, Niphophilos, Otocoris, Otocorydopsis, Philammus, Phileremos.

California Towhee (senicula)
SCI Name: Melozone crissalis senicula
senicula
L. senicula  little old woman (i.e. grey-haired, querulous)  < dim. senex, senis  old person.

California Towhee (aripolia)
SCI Name: Melozone crissalis aripolia
aripolia / aripolius
Gr. αρι- ari-  very, excellent; πολιος polios  grey.

California Towhee (albigula)
SCI Name: Melozone crissalis albigula
albigula
L. albus white; gula throat.