584 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 part i 



Joe T. Marshall, Jr. (1956) notes that while the towhee spans several 

 vegetation zones, it is partial to bush growth, particularly chaparral 

 and brush within woods or forests at altitudes above the deserts. 



More recently Marshall writes us from Arizona that this race 

 "is a common breeding bird in the mountains here wherever any 

 brush or bushes grow under the trees or beside creeks, but only in 

 the zones well above the desert. It breeds in patches of manzanita 

 among the oaks, in manzanita or ceanothus under the pines or among 

 the pinons, and in snowberry bushes and imder aspens in the high 

 forests. It is most abundant where true chaparral grows, as on the 

 Pinal Mountains near Globe in central Arizona. In the Rincon 

 and other southern mountains it is plentifid only where heavy brush 

 growth has replaced the forests after fires or logging operations." 



In the common with other PipUos, the spurred towhees are in- 

 separable from dense cover throughout their range. They are 

 rarely seen in the open except as they may be flushed from one bush 

 and fly for the closest thicket, usually close to the ground. In spring 

 and summer the casual observer will most likely see the male as he 

 sings from the top of a favored clump of oakbrush or similar shrub. 

 When too closely approached, the male invariably darts downward 

 into the thickest cover available. The female is less often seen, 

 for she usually stays on or near the ground where she rustles among 

 the dried fallen leaves in the dense underbrush, or goes quietly about 

 the tasks of nest-building, incubating, and brooding. Rarely is 

 either sex seen in long, sustained flight. 



Spring. — About the first of April the winter flocks of towhees 

 break up and the birds pair and establish their nesting territories. 

 By mid-April the males sing vigorously. At this time the leaves have 

 not yet appeared on the oakbrush or other deciduous shrubs, and the 

 males are often conspicuous as they sing from vantage points on the 

 tops of shrubs where they can overlook their domains. By the first 

 of May when most of the nesting activity is well under way, leaves 

 have usually appeared on the shrubs and the birds have ample pro- 

 tective cover. 



Courtship. — J. T. Marshall, Jr. (1957) comments that the territories 

 the towhees battle over in spring seem rather small. He has sent us 

 in a letter the following excerpts from his field notes describing a 

 territorial confhct he witnessed in an abandoned orchard within the 

 pine forest on El Tigre Mountain in Sonora on Apr. 7, 1953: **Two 

 males battling over a female. AU three birds squalling loudly. 

 Real fight in clump of locust, banging wings, flying at each other, 

 tumbling down, calling. Then out to middle of flat. Ticking caU 

 and mew caU both used. Female joins them and both males 

 begin to sing. Intruder male moves off to north and owner follows 



