Melozone is a genus of mostly Neotropical birds in the family Passerellidae, found mainly in Mexico. Three species reach as far north as the southwestern United States, two species reach as far south as Costa Rica, and two are endemic to Mexico.
It is one of two genera containing birds with the common name towhee.
The genus Melozone was introduced in 1850 by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach. The name combines the Ancient Greek ü÷ûÿý/mÃÂlon meaning "cheek" with öÃÂý÷/zà Ânàmeaning "girdle" or "belt". Reichenbach did not specify a type species but in 1888 the English ornithologist Richard Bowdler Sharpe designated the type as Pyrgita biarcurata Prévost and Des Murs, 1842, Prevost's ground sparrow.
The genus contains following nine species: