DERE RO WRUEE:: 95 
satisfied with that which is near at hand. Sometimes the nest is arched 
over after the fashion of the Oven-bird. The nest site is usually some dis- 
tance from a roadway or path, often in moderately deep woods where there 
is little underbrush, but oftener in brushy thickets, or shrubbery fringing 
woods. The accompanying illustration of a nest and eggs was taken from 
a nest placed in a pasture in an open field, some fifty rods from a woods, and 
ten feet from any brush. Here at Oberlin I have found more nests in the 
second growth near swampy places than elsewhere. 
While Towhee 
does not seem te 
be a stupid bird, it 
is a wonder to me 
that he will permit 
the parasitic Cow- 
bird to fill his nest, 
sometimes to the 
complete exclusion 
of his own eggs, 
and serenely hatch 
and care for the 
foster young. 
Twice I have 
found a Towhee’s 
nest containing 4 
eggs of Cowbird 
and none of the , ca 
rightful owner, on Me vz a 
which the female Taken near Oberlin. Enomane ie Tene 
Towhee was. sit- 
: NEST AND EGGS OF THE TOWHEE. 
ting as content- 
edly as though the eggs belonged to her. Most nests contain one or more 
eges of Cowbird. Possibly the explanation lies in the fact that the Towhee 
and Cowbird eggs are much alike in appearance. However, the Cowbird 
eggs are marked with grayish-brown, while the Towhee eggs are marked 
with reddish-brown, and average larger. 
Because Towhee seems able to adapt himself to changing conditions 
of the landscape, which is inevitable with fuller settlement of the land, we 
may hope that he will be a permanent member of sylvan society. A woods 
without a Towhee to herald the morning would lose half its glory. 
LyNnps JONEs. 
