on the toiohee.



47



catcher from its nest, but, like the winter wren and the nonpareil,

the towhee must occupy the highest twig of its chosen sapling or

bush before it flings to the summer winds the melody of its notes.

Its song is not a remarkable performance when compared with the

singing of many birds, but it is vigorous and appealing. The song

of the towhee is the passionate cry of a love-sick bird, who will not

take “no” for an answer. Ernest Thompson Seton has told us

what it says. He asserts the bird plainly shouts, chuck-burr , pill-a-

will-a-will-a.


The Nest.


The towhee’s nest is often situated on the ground, though

sometimes we may find it in shrubs or low bushes. Even when

built in a bush it is always near the earth. In fact I have never

found one at more than a foot elevation. It is usually made of a

collection of dead leaves, strips of grape-vine or other bark, and

occasionally a few twigs. The lining appears always to be made of

fine, dead grasses. It is not covered over like the nest of the bob-

white, meadowlark, oven-bird, and some other ground-nesting species,

and is protected from the rays of the sun and the eyes of the

curious only by the twigs and leaves of the bush in which it is

hidden. Although fairly ample in size, it is in reality rather a frailly

built cradle, and usually goes to pieces during the rains of autumn

or the winter storms.


As may be noticed from the accompanying coloured illustra¬

tion, the female is less highly coloured than her mate. This is the

case with a great many kinds of birds, and it would appear that

when kind Nature made them she had in mind the fact that the

mother-bird would do most of the brooding; and that while on the

nest her somewhat duller coat would not be so noticeable to enemies,

which, with claw and beak and tooth, are ever afield on the hunt for

little birds. She seems to know how well her colouring protects her,

and sometimes one may approach to a point where the hand may

almost be laid on her before she takes wing. Four or five white

eggs, finely and evenly spotted with dark red, are laid, usually in

May. When one approaches the nest, especially after the eggs have

hatched, the parents will immediately appear, and, flitting about on

the ground or from bush to bush, will anxiously voice their alarm.



