168 | THE GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE. 
The male bird appeared, once, upon a bush some twenty feet away, 
making no hostile demonstration but beaming rather a hearty confidence, as 
who should say, “Well, I see you are getting along nicely at home; that’s 
right, enjoy yourselves, and I'll finish up this bit of hoeing before supper.” 
The mother bird, meanwhile, was uttering no complaint of the strange 
presence, preferring instead to glean food industriously from under the carpet 
of green leaves. Soon she returned, hopping up daintily. Standing upon 
the elevated brim of her nest she carefully surveyed her brood without 
proffer of food, as tho merely to assure herself of their welfare. I 
“snapped” and she retreated, not hastily, as tho frightened, but quietly as 
matter of reasonable prudence. Again and again during the hour I had 
her under fire, she returned to her brood. Each time she retired before the 
mild roar of the curtain shutter, never hastily or nervously, but deliberately 
and demurely. Thrice she fed her brood, thrusting her beak, which bore 
no external signs of food, deep down into the upturned gullets of the three 
children. Thrice she attempted to brood her babes, and very handsome and 
very motherly she looked, with fluffed feathers and mildly inquisitive eye; 
but the necessary movement following an exposure sent her away for a 
season. 
When absent she neither moped nor scolded, but discreetly set about 
scratching for food, always within a range of ten or fifteen feet of the nest. 
At such times she would look up trustfully and unabashed. Upon the return 
she never flew, and there was nothing to advise the waiting camerist of her 
approach, save the rustle of leaves as she came hop, hopping, until she stood 
upon the familiar brim. 
The opportunities for picture-making were simply unlimited, save for 
the weakness of the leaf-diluted light. Seldom have I been stirred to such 
admiration as in the case of this gentle mother Schistacea. So demure, so 
even-tempered, and so kindly a bird-person, with such a preserving air of 
gentle breeding, I have not often seen. It was an hour to be long 
remembered. 
No. 64. 
GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE. 
A. O. U. No. 592.1. Oreospiza chlorura (Aud.). 
Synonyms.—GrEEN-TAILED FINcH. BLANDING’s FINCH. 
Description.—4dults: Crown and occiput rich chestnut; forehead blackish 
gray with whitish loral spot on each side; remaining upperparts olive-gray tinged 
more or less with bright olive-green; wings and tail with brighter greenish 
edgings; bend of wing, axillaries and under coverts yellow; chin and throat 
