252 LAND BIRDS 
brush, or running swiftly across the open spaces from 
bush to bush on the arid mountain sides, the Green- 
ee Towhee has a manner distinctly his own. You 
May may know him by his semi-erectile chestnut 
‘sy,  erown, white throat, and green tail. 
His alarm note is a cat-like mew, lacking 
the harshness of the note of the catbird, and 
the insistent force of that of the spurred 
It is a polite protest against 
<< towhee. 
MS your intrusion. His song 
: has somewhat of a thrush- 
like quality, but is more varied, possessing 
_ a vigor and enthusiasm not found in that 
of the more quiet singer. 
His nest is hidden in, or under, one of the 
i t. ee / stunted bushes with which the rocky ground 
4 les ./Jis covered, and, brooding there day after day, 
RN SS , his olive mate is safe in her protective coloring. 
Newly hatched Towhees are the same naked 
s\e)\ nestlings, whether cuddled in a chaparral- 
a (} lan, sheltered nest of the mountains or rocked in 
\ a garden rosebush ; dark bluish gray in color, 
| with yellow bills, they are covered with a thin 
i whitish down. They feather rapidly, and leave 
592.1. GREEN- the nest when from ten to twelve days 
TAILED 'TOWHEE. ag 
a old, those of the warmer localities ma- 
“* A manner distinctly i 
pas Gian: turing somewhat sooner than those born 
on the edge of the Boreal zone. They follow the adults 
for several weeks, learning to jump forward and kick 
out backward, in scratching for their food, just as the 
