THE TOWHEE. 



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 to 

 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. 

 T w ice I have 

 found a Towhee's 

 nest containing 4 

 eggs of Cowbird 

 and none of the 

 rightful owner, on 

 which the female 

 Towhee was sit- 

 ting as content- 

 edly as though the eggs belonged to her. Most nests contain one or more 

 eggs 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. 



LYNDS JONES. 



Taken near Oberlin. 



Photo by Lynds Jones. 



NEST AND EGGS OF THE TOWHEE. 



