GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE 557 



Whether bona fide injury-feigning occurs in this species with any 

 regularity is a moot point. Probably it does not. R. W. Hendee's 

 (1929) observation is nevertheless suggestive: "On June 9, I flushed 

 a towhee from a bush near the spring. Flying a few feet to one side 

 it gave the customary imitation of a crippled bird, which led me to 

 believe that there was a nest in the vicinity. However, after careful 

 examination I failed to find a nest, and, though I returned to the 

 locality a number of times, I never located a nest or saw a bird in the 

 vicinity again." 



The intelligence of the greentail and its response to kind treatment 

 is shown by J. E. Law's (1926) accoimt of his experiences with it, to 

 which the reader is referred. One particularly memorable item 

 Law recorded is that whereas a bird would freely enter his cabin for a 

 "handout" in a feeding box, it would never allow a person to come 

 between it and the door — the only escape passage. One had only to 

 move toward the door to elicit the towhee's "escape" reaction, which 

 was rapid and effective. Such a "blocking experiment" was not a 

 serious deterrent, however, in that one or more of the towhees, 

 apparently throughout their sojourn in the area, remained confiding — 

 and hungry — visitors in and about the cabin. 



Voice. — F. M. Bailey (1902) writes: "His mewing call-note, a soft 

 mew, mew-ah-eep, seems his most chewink-like character and proclaims 

 his presence, as does his song when the ear has caught the difference 

 between it and Passerella. Though phrased somewhat like the song 

 of the maculatus [rufous-sided towhee] group, it is wholly different in 

 quality and rendering, being more of the bright finch type with the 

 Chondestes-like burr heard in so many finch songs, and its two em- 

 phasized notes standing out in a medley of short notes." Otto Wid- 

 mann (1904) also likens the species' vocal effects to those of the lark 

 sparrow, remarking, in fact, that the towhee's song is strongly remi- 

 niscent of that of the sparrow. 



W. L. Dawson (1923) describes the song as follows: "Of song the 

 bird possesses a surprising repertory. There is something dashing 

 and wren-lilce about his more familiar ditties, and also something 

 faintly remmiscent of the Vesper Sparrow (Pooecetes gramineus). 

 Meay, tsit sit sit sit reminds me of orthodox Pipilo, and Ah fewgee 

 weeee pilly willy willy will carry one right back to Pipilo erythro- 

 phthalmus — or will, that is, when one gets over the surprise of the 

 opening notes, which in the case of two birds heard at Goose Lake 

 were strikingly like those of the Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe)." 



Further record and interpretation of the bird's vocal efforts are 

 found in J. Grinnell and T. I. Storer's (1924) study of animals in the 

 Yosemite : 



