GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE 555 



the effects of wear and fading, the upper parts being grayer, the 

 flanks paler." 



Food. — Among the relatively little information published on the 

 species* food habits, J. Grinnell (1908) noted greentails in abundance 

 at the north base of Sugarloaf in the San Bernardino mountains where 

 "they were feeding on service-berries [Amelanchier alnifolia] in com- 

 pany with many other birds." According to F. M. Bailey (1928), the 

 species takes weed seeds and insects, including the alfalfa weevil and 

 other injurious beetles and bugs. In the Bull Run mountains of 

 Nevada, Ira La Rivers (1941) found this towhee, among other species, 

 feeding on small, third-instar Mormon crickets {Anabrus simplex). 



The green-tailed towhee often visits feeding stations, where it 

 accepts chick-feed, cracked corn, bread crumbs, and birdseed. C H. 

 Merriam (1890) noted that this bird's "habit of searching for food on 

 the ground led to the death of several individuals which got into our 

 traps set for Mice and other small mammals." Similar experiences 

 were recorded by L. M. Huey (1936a) and also by J. Grinnell and 

 T. I. Storer (1924), who specified that the source of the birds' undoing 

 was the rolled oats placed on the traps as bait. 



Behavior. — In the words of I. N. Gabrielson and S. G. Jewett (1940), 

 "the trim, alert Green-tailed Towhee is a somewhat shy bird, although 

 its ringing song and catlike call notes are familiar sounds of the sage 

 country." F. M. Bailey (1939) writes of "its usual appealing air of 

 timidity" and of its running "over the ground with round crest up 

 and tail in motion ready for flight, its deprecatory calls * * * also 

 bespeaking its gentle timid nature." Activity in dense growth has 

 aptly been called "skulking" (A. Wetmore, 1920), which seems appli- 

 cable to movements both on and above the ground. 



As to foraging characteristics, Grinnell and Storer (1924) say that 

 "the combination of conical bill, long tail, short wings, and stout 

 legs and feet, proclaim the Green-tailed Towhee to be adapted for 

 foraging beneath brush patches." The bird's food-searching motions 

 usually involve "a little jump forward and a little kick back" (F. M. 

 Bailey, 1939), or scratching not unlike that of other kinds of towhees. 

 That this habit is well ingrained is illustrated by J. E. Law (1926), 

 who, while observing rather confiding young greentails at a feeding 

 box near Bluff Lake, San Bernardino mountains, set down the fol- 

 lowing notes: "It seemed strange * * * how the scratch habit could 

 not be overcome. Every few pecks, standing in this box half filled 

 with bread crumbs, it just had to give a scratch or two, which sent 

 the crumbs flying in every direction." R. Hoffmann (1927) was 

 apparently in error when he stated that this bird "does not scratch 

 with both feet after the manner of the larger Towhees." 



