THE TOWHEES. 163 



lands, just anywhere in all our land where there 

 is anything to scratch, or brush for cover. The 

 towhees love our wood-piles, and the tree trim- 

 mings that are left for a while in the ! orchards. 

 And they run about the door-steps, looking for 

 the contents of the crumb-pan, which we toss to 

 them. They would come in and help themselves 

 out of the cupboard with the children when they 

 come home from school, if they were allowed. 

 Towhees and sparrows wonder why people on 

 this happy Coast are bound to shut them out of 

 their houses with those wire door and window 

 screens ! But we must have our screens, you 

 know, so long as house-flies claim a right to come 

 in of cold evenings. So, towhee takes up its stand 

 on the steps, and sometimes we brush the birds 

 off suddenly when we open the door. 



The towhee nests in our grounds, anywhere 

 from three or four feet in a shrub, to ten or twenty 

 feet in a tree. 



They begin their family affairs by the first 

 week in March. The first intimation we have 

 that nesting has begun is the sight of a brown 

 bird running across the yard with a white rag in 

 its beak. Often the rag chosen is too heavy to fly 

 with, and the bird drags it along by slow degrees. 

 By hard work it is able to carry it to the nesting- 



