The Audubon Magazine. 



Vol. II. 



SEPTEMBER, 1888. 



No. 8. 



THE TOWHEE BUNTING. 



ONE of the most abundant summer 

 birds of middle North America is 

 the Ground Robin, Chewink or Towhee 

 Bunting. Although so numerous in our 

 forests and along the hedgerows, it is yet a 

 bird known to few persons except those 

 who make a study of our feathered visit- 

 ants. It comes quietly in the spring, and, 

 seldom appearing in the fields or about the 

 houses, at once betakes itself to its chosen 

 haunts along the edges of the woods. A 

 favorite resort for these birds is one of the 

 rambling, grass-grown woodroads or cart 

 paths which so often traverse our New 

 England woods. The narrow track is ver- 

 dant with fresh grass, and on either side 

 near the tumble down stone walls or rail 

 fences, which bound the road, the ground 

 is overgrown with cedars and sumachs, and 

 these are matted together with thorny cat- 

 briers. It is under and among these 

 tangled growths that the Towhee Bunting 

 delights to dwell, and if you go along care- 

 fully and quietly any bright summer morn 

 ing or evening you may hear him busily at 

 work on the ground, scratching among the 

 dry leaves in search of food, or if it is the 

 mating season you will come upon him 

 seated on the lowest branch of some over- 

 hanging chestnut, and trilling the simple 

 lay which cheers his mate while she broods 

 her eggs not far away. 



The Towhee Bunting makes its appear- 

 ance with us in the latter part of April, 



having passed the winter in the Southern 

 States, where it is found everywhere at that 

 season of the year. Its migrations are per- 

 formed slowly by short flights, and its wing 

 beats are so rapid that sometimes they may 

 be heard at quite a little distance. At this 

 time it is a busy, restless bird, seeming un- 

 willing to remain quiet for any length of 

 time, and appearing to be impressed with 

 the notion that it must hurry on to its jour- 

 ney's end. And yet for all its apparent 

 haste it seems to loiter. When the Tow- 

 hees reach their breeding places they ar- 

 rive singly, never moving in flocks, the 

 males coming first and dispersing them- 

 selves over the country, to be followed a 

 little later by their more plainly clad mates. 

 Soon after the arrival of these latter the 

 birds choose their mates. A site for a nest 

 is selected, usually at the footof some bush 

 or very young tree, sometimes close to a 

 tuft of high grass; and now both the mates 

 take part in the labor of making the nest. 

 This is begun by scratching out a hollow 

 in the ground as large as a good sized tea 

 cup. This hollow is then lined with dried 

 grasses, and slender weed stalks, some- 

 times with dried leaves, and over this, to 

 form the real lining of the nest on which 

 the delicate eggs are to rest, are finer 

 grasses, fibrous roots, and sometimes horse 

 or cow hair. The whole is a most com- 

 pact and comfortable structure, and it is 

 generally well protected from danger of 



