on the towhee.



49



eating which would appear to be a very unusual one for so ground-

loving a bird. Here, when early spring comes, they mount into the

higher branches of trees, where they feed on the swelling buds. In

the mountains of North Carolina some persons declare that towhees

(“Jorees” or “Joreekers,” they call them) go into the fields in every

spring and pull up the planted corn, just about the time it is sprouting

and beginning to show above the ground. The bill of the bird is

strong enough to crack a grain of corn, and it is probable that the

habit has been developed locally, as there would appear to be no

very widespread custom of this character. As a usual thing, how¬

ever, we find the towhee on the ground in a thicket, where we may

hear him scratching among the fallen leaves and throwing them

about with an energy and vigour surprising in a bird which measures

only about eight and a half inches in length.


What Audubon said.


John James Audubon, the great naturalist and artist, who

was such a close observer of birds, in writing of the towhee, said :

“ The young leave the nest long before they are able to fly, and

follow the mother about on the ground for several days. Some of

the nests of this species are so well concealed that in order to

discover them one requires to stand quite still on the first appear¬

ance of the mother. I have myself several times had to regret not

taking this precaution. The favourite haunts of the towhee bunt¬

ings are dry barren tracts, but not, as others have said, low and

swampy grounds, at least during the season of incubation. In the

Barrens of Kentucky they are found in the greatest abundance.


“ Their migrations are performed by day, from bush to bush,

and they seem to be much at a loss when the great extent of forest

is to be traversed by them. They perform these journeys almost

singly. The females set out before the males in autumn, and the

males before the females in spring, the latter not appearing in the

Middle Districts until the end of April, a fortnight after the males

have arrived. Many of them pass the confines of the United States

in their migrations southward and northward.


Although these birds are abundant in all parts of the Union,

they never associate in flocks, but mingle during the winter with

several species of sparrow. They generally rest on the ground at



