566 U-S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 part i 



A. A. Saunders (1923) reports a nest found in New York on July 6 

 in a "silky dogwood" and another on July 13, also in a bush that 

 contained four eggs. M. B. Trautman (1940) writes of finding nine 

 nests. Of the nine, one contained six eggs, three contained four eggs 

 or young, three contained five eggs or young, one contained four young 

 and one cowbird young, and one contained six young and one cowbird 

 egg. He continues: 



The nest was made of grasses, rootlets, twiglets, bits of leaves, string, or shreds 

 of bark; a few nests were lined with cattle hair. Four nests were built upon the 

 ground beneath brush tangles, 2 were built in piles of dead brush over which a 

 dense leafy tangle had grown, and the remaining 3 were 1 to 5 feet above the 

 ground in vine tangles or upon small branches of bushes. The earliest nest with 

 eggs was recorded April 30 (1929, 4 eggs), and the latest July 12 (1931, 5 eggs); 

 the earliest nest with young was found May 11 (1929, 4 one-third grown young 

 in same nest as of April 30), and the latest July 17 (1932, 4 young); the first 

 fledging out of the nest was seen May 20 (1931), and the last August 4 (1930, at 

 least 2 young being fed by parents) . 



Dayton Stoner (1932), writing of his experiences in New Yorki 

 states that all nests he observed were located on the ground, but that 

 on occasion a low bush served as a support or hiding place. He adds 

 that the nests are made of "Dead leaves, grass and strips of bark * * * 

 with a fining of fine grass." He records both 4 and 5 eggs per nest. 

 In Ohio, G. M. AUen (1909) discovered nests in the "higher, more 

 open woods, as well as in the brushy tangles." Merriam (1877), 

 quoting the notes of the Stadtmiiller brothers, describes a nest 

 found under a cedar tree as being "composed externally of cedar 

 bark, lined with grass and horse hair." 



B. H. Warran, wi'iting in 1890, adds "a grass tuft" to the type of 

 site that may be chosen. W. B. Barrows (1912) comments that in 

 Michigan the towhee almost invariably nests on the ground. He 

 adds that "Possibly one nest in fifty is built in a bush or tangle of 

 vines a foot or two above the ground." Also reported in Barrows 

 are records by Wolcott of a single nest at Grand Rapids 8 

 feet above the ground in a tree and another at Ann Arbor placed on 

 top of a stump. Barrows also states that two broods are reared almost 

 always, one in June and another in July. Mmnesota records from 

 T. S. Roberts (1932) include a single nest found by Dr. Patton in a 

 matted grape vine 11 feet 4 inches from the ground. L. H. Porter 

 (1908), in writing of the nesting habits of birds at Stamford, Conn., 

 following the cold spring of 1907, suggests that his finding of towhee 

 nests in trees might have been the result of the unusual weather, 

 but the many records of this habit under average conditions con- 

 tradict this suggestion. 



