Towheo WESTERN BIRDS 



for food, the male never feeding her as does the male in 

 the Goldfinch families. 



When the young hatch the male does more than his 

 share of feeding for the first few days, and the food is 

 soft green worms or other visible insect life, showing 

 that these Towhees do not feed by regurgitation. 



After the feeding the male bird usually waits on the 

 edge of the nest until the return of the female, but never 

 have I seen him take it. At these times he is quite fear- 

 less, one of these birds allowing me to place a camera 

 within two feet of him and take a time exposure without 

 moving a feather or winking an eye. 



The female was much more distracted at my presence 

 and chipped vigorously if I approached the nest. I do 

 not in the least wonder at the bird making a fuss for so 

 many nests are destroyed by prowling cats while the 

 young are still too small to venture forth, and, too, these 

 ambitious nestlings hop from the parental home when 

 they are about nine days old and unable to fly, so that 

 very many of them are destroyed. Their legs are long 

 and the feet large and the rapidity with which they get 

 over the ground is a wonder, still they are not quick 

 enough for a hungry feline. 



An interesting act of parental love recently came under 

 my observation. A pair of Towhees were nesting in an 

 apricot tree in the yard, and we knew that there were 

 newly-hatched young in the nest. About this time a 

 young bird of this species which had strayed from the 

 nest was brought to me, and put in a cage in the screen 

 porch near the apricot tree. Its cry for its parents 

 greatly distressed our Towhees so that we finally opened 

 the door that they might come in and see for themselves 

 that it was not their nestling. This they did and having 

 satisfied themselves, they went about their home duties 

 with no thought of the orphan inside. This did not sur- 

 prise me for my observation has been that old birds do 



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