THE TOWHEE 261 



and brave enough to go out among the wildlings without 

 any excuse, I have abandoned both fishing and shooting 

 for sport. 



While I especially liked to fish in this pool, there was 

 a little black, orange, and white bird which did not ap- 

 preciate my presence. I never could come near this 

 place but he began flitting about among the branches and 

 uttering a peculiar cry of protest which sounded to me 

 something like ^^V-E-E-INK W-R-R-INK." 



This very active bird was somewhat similar in size and 

 appearance to the Baltimore oriole, but lacked the golden 

 color. He never was still for more than a few moments 

 at a time, but was always jumping back and forth, here 

 and there, and darting through the foliage until it almost 

 made me dizzy to watch him. We called him the "Joree." 

 Since I have grown up I have come more often to speak of 

 him as the "towhee." In fact, there seem to be few birds 

 that have more names than this fellow. 



This towhee was almost always on the ground or slip- 

 ping back and forth among the low bushes. He especially 

 delighted in the willows that hung out over the creek, for 

 there he could find plenty of caterpillars and other food and 

 be concealed at the same time. From there he would fly 

 to the bank under the old fernery and scratch vigorously, 

 making the leaves fairly fly. 



If you wish to identify this bird, there is no character- 

 istic more prominent than this habit of scratching in the 

 leaves. Few birds as small as this are at all likely to be 

 found on the ground scratching and turning over the leaves. 

 If you approach he slips under a brush pile at once, or 

 slyly moves through the brush or tall weeds. In fact, he is 

 distinctly a ground dweller. 



