WESTERN BIRDS Towhce 



drew near the nest, then flying on to the ground slipped 

 quietly along to the young. Sometimes he stayed one 

 minute before slipping out and flying upon the sycamore 

 tree, which he usually did, where he gave his skee-ee-e 

 song before flying down the canyon. It was of interest 

 that he always went in the same direction. 



Being anxious to know whether the male bird fed the 

 young directly, or gave it to the mother for them, we 

 arranged a blind of an old umbrella, placing it scarcely a 

 foot from the nest, and awaited developments. 



In seven minutes the female returned and having 

 satisfied herself that all was well, despite this new ar- 

 rangement, took the nest. 



Now followed a long, tiresome wait for the watchers. 

 If you have ever tried waiting, motionless, for half or 

 three-quarters of an hour, in any position, however seem- 

 ingly comfortable at first, you will know something of 

 the discomfort experienced in the forty-eight minutes 

 of waiting before the male appeared. 



Finally he came, calling in a low voice, and cautiously 

 advancing through the rank weeds to the entrance of 

 the nest. As he neared the nest the female moved to 

 one side and he fed the young by a pumping motion, 

 which may have been regurgitation or simply bringing 

 the food from the throat where he was carrying it, as is 

 the custom of the California Towhee. 



Before taking our departure we took one more peep 

 at the nestlings and were amazed to find that one of 

 them had its eyes open, a remarkable thing considering 

 that it was only one day old. Most young birds are 

 three or four days old before their eyes open. 



The next day a companion and myself, armed with 

 cameras, visited the canyon. The distress of the female 

 was apparent before we reached the nest, and we won- 

 dered what the trouble could be since never before had 

 she so minded our presence. 



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