SPURRED TOWHEE 587 



lower one. Singing starts in Utah late in February or early in March, 

 and continues until after the young leave the nest, but is most intense 

 in April and May. Song is most pronounced on clear, warm days. 

 Males start to sing at the first indication of daylight and continue 

 singing intermittently throughout the day until dark, with two appar- 

 ent periods of intensity, one just before, and the other just after sunrise. 



The longest sustained period of smging by a single bird, heard soon 

 after sunup on Apr. 14, 1955, lasted 42 minutes. In this time the 

 bird sang 260 consecutive songs involving 6 variations. The males 

 continue to sing while the females are brooding, while the young are 

 in the nest, and between their own periods of feeding the young. 



J. T. Marshall, Jr., wi'ites us from Arizona: "There are differences 

 in the songs in different areas, and each male has several different 

 songs. When a male uses a particular song, those near him often 

 respond with the same song. The most frequent pattern consists of 

 two sharp notes followed by a trill, such as clip-clip-cheeee. One 

 bird in northern Sonora changed to a song exceedingly like a brown 

 towhee's for several minutes, and then changed back to his own again. 

 A common variation you hear in Sonora is the trill preceded by a whistle 

 like the call of the evening grosbeak, which is very confusing." 



Summer. — Our observations in Utah indicate that after the young 

 leave the nest the famUy stays together near the nesting site all sum- 

 mer. Young of the year in full juvenal plumage are seen regularly in 

 July. As the singing of the males diminishes after the nesting season, 

 the birds become relatively inconspicuous as they forage quietly in 

 the dense cover of their preferred habitat. 



In the southern part of its range this towhee is apparently double- 

 brooded. J. T. Marshall, Jr., writes us from Arizona that "in mid-July 

 in the Pinal Mountains independent juveniles were everywhere in the 

 brush within the aspens and firs. The males were singing all day, and 

 were often seen chasing the juveniles as if to get them out of their 

 territories." He sends us the following notes from northern Mexico: 

 "Northern Sonora mountains, July 8: female carrying nesting material 

 and another feeding young just out of the nest; July 16: juveniles fully 

 grown; July 28: a pair hovering in alarm around juveniles just out. 

 Both adults and juveniles had the same call note, a piercing chip so 

 ventriloquial you could not locate the birds by the sound. Chihuahua, 

 August 22: independent juveniles in complete juvenal plumage; 

 August 25: juvenile male half molted into the rich adult plumage." 



Food. — Herbert H. Frost (1947) studied the food habits of the 

 spurred towhees along the Wasatch foothills east of Provo, Utah. He 

 found that their principal food in winter was vegetable, with the fruits 

 of the hackberry (Celtis) most commonly identified. In summer, 

 animal matter increases in the diet markedly. Remains of coleoptera 



