164 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 



site, where rags and twigs are placed alternately 

 or all mixed up for the nest foundation. 



We do not know why towhees are so partial to 

 white rags. They will not accept red or blue, nor 

 any color, save white. We thought it would be a 

 good idea to make towhee build a Fourth of July 

 nest; so we furnished red, white, and blue strips 

 of cotton cloth. She took all of the white ones, 

 and stood on the wheelbarrow asking for more, 

 with her feathers all rumpled and her tail jerk- 

 ing. Then we thought we would outwit her by 

 tying bits of the red and blue to the white rags. 

 She took one or two to the nest, but declined the 

 remainder. Nor would she touch them even after 

 we refused her any more white ones. 



We were glad, however, that we had coaxed her 

 to use two or three of the colors, as even so little 

 would give the celebration tone to the nest. 

 When we looked to see what the effect would be, 

 we were astonished at what she had done. That 

 shrewd little towhee had tucked the red and blue 

 out of sight, inside the nest, so that not a glint of 

 either color appeared from without. Now, this 

 was a queer notion of hers, was it not? and 

 proves that birds have an eye to color. We can 

 account for the towhee's choice of white in only 

 one way. The nests are built usually in thin 



