BROWN TOWEEE 481 



The manner in which the brown towhee makes use of any new source 

 of food is shown by an incident which occurred at El Portal early in 

 December, 1914. As a freight truck laden with grain moved up the road 

 en route to Yosemite one of the sacks which it carried dropped a narrow 

 stream of rolled barley. Soon brown towhees, in company with California 

 jays and spurred towhees, had found the trail and were industriously 

 gleaning the scattered grains all along the road. The towhees also appro- 

 priate grain which has dropped from horses' feed bags or which has been 

 accidentally scattered in a barnyard. 



When hopping about in search of food the brown towhee carries its 

 tail straight out behind, or often slightly drooped. In flying the tail is 

 widely spread and much used in steering and stopping; its large area 

 when spread makes of it an effective rudder for a bird dodging about 

 through brush or low trees. In courting, the male sometimes carries his 

 tail up at a decided angle with the back, at the same time hopping ' corner- 

 wise' toward his mate. 



In late May and early June of 1915, when our field parties were at 

 Snelling, Pleasant Valley, and Smith Creek, many nests of the brown 

 towhee were found. The season was already well advanced, and of the 

 nests which had not been disturbed by natural enemies all but one held 

 young. At Snelling on May 26, bob-tailed young were out of the nest 

 and with their parents in the willow and blackberry thickets, while on 

 June 5 at Smith Creek a nest was found with young only two or three 

 days old, and another held eggs nearly ready to hatch. In 1919, a nest 

 found near Lagrange on May 6 held four eggs far advanced in incubation 

 while another nest was found completed but without eggs. Three or four 

 constituted a brood in all the instances recorded. 



The nests are placed in shrubs such as Ceanothus, or in small oak trees, 

 and are situated from 3 to 8 feet above the ground. At Smith Creek all 

 the nests found but one were placed in Ceanathus integerrimus bushes, 

 although there were several other kinds of shrubs available in the vicinity. 

 The exceptional nest found at the last named locality was placed on the 

 ground and constructed entirely of strips of bark of the incense cedar. 

 The usual nest measures 5 or 6 inches across and 5 inches high, and has 

 a central cavity 2 inches deep by about 3 wide. The material used in 

 construction consists of twigs and weed stems with fine grasses and fre- 

 quently, for lining, horsehair. 



The brown towhee subsists upon a wide variety of food materials, 

 almost entirely of a vegetable nature, and, as indicated above, is quick 

 to make use of any unusual source that may offer itself. 



