480 ' ANIMAL LIFE IN THE YOSEMITE 



Northern Brown Towhee. Pipilo crissalis carolae McGregor 



Field characters. — Size large for a sparrow; length nearly that of Eobin, but body 

 smaller, more plump-appearing, and tail longer (nearly as long as body). Plumage 

 almost uniformly brown, with no contrasted white or black markings; area beneath 

 base of tail bright reddish brown. Voice: Call or alarm note, a single, rather loud 

 metallic peep; song merely a rapid repetition of the same sort of note with decreasing 

 intervals between them; occasionally, as when courting, a series of curious whining or 

 squealing sounds is given. 



Occurrence. — Eesident west of Sierra Nevada in both Sonoran zones but more common 

 in Upper Sonoran; ranges sparingly up into lower edge of Transition, as at Smith 

 Creek (2800 feet) and above El Portal (to 3300 feet). Hops about margins of brush 

 Ijatches and along trails and roads, ordinarily in pairs, even through the winter, never 

 in flocks. 



No more characteristic bird of the lower chaparral belt could be named 

 that the brown towhee ; none takes kindlier to the modifications wrought 

 by human occupancy. This trait of the bird, together with its choice of 

 forage ground, in openings at the margins of thickets, about clearings, 

 and along roads, renders it one of the first species to meet the eye of the 

 traveler. El Portal lies well within the range of the brown towhee, and 

 here one may see the bird commonly about the buildings and even from 

 the stage as the latter starts off with its load up the road toward Yosemite. 

 The foraging birds are so loath to leave the open road ahead of the 

 approaching stage that they are often nearly overtaken before they realize 

 their plight and take to the brush in pell-mell flight, uttering a startled 

 succession of alarm notes. 



Brown, in a word, characterizes the coloring of this towhee. Among 

 all the many members of the sparrow family which inhabit the Yosemite 

 region there is none more somber colored. True, the garb of the female 

 blue grosbeak is dull, but she is of much smaller size and has a shorter 

 tail, and is to be found only along watercourses in the Lower Sonoran Zone. 

 The brown towhee on the other hand is found in a wide variety of situa- 

 tions, up as far as the beginning of the yellow pine belt. The two sexes 

 are exactly alike, and entirely lack spots, streaks, or stripes of either white 

 or black. 



Roadways over the brush-covered hillsides, grassy spots beneath digger 

 pines or blue oaks, and gardens and similar spots adjacent to human 

 habitations are the common haunts of these birds. They spend most of 

 their time in the open but never venture far from some good shelter such 

 as a brush thicket, blackberry tangle or osage-orange hedge. They come 

 about barns or dwellings where there are oaks or other trees or vines near 

 at hand in which they can take quick refuge. 



