£be Warbler 5 



moreover, exceeding fussy. Judging from the prevalence of wood rats and 

 Canada Jays, amid his environ, there is good cause. The male never ceases 

 his whining, when the eggs have evolved into young. As often, with other 

 birds, the male devotes himself often to scolding intruders; while his mate 

 does the foraging. 



Nests are usually placed in the soft earth. Margins along the creek 

 bottoms are perhaps more favored than other sites. Nests also occur along 

 the edges of over-grown banks; and, (rarely?), beneath the shelter of a rock, 

 Junco-wise. Three unusual sites have been brought to light: My blood- 



m 



X 



fllilP 





ARCTIC TOWHEE NEST BENEATH ROCK 



thirsty wretch of a pointer was detected in destroying a brood of callow 

 Towhees; which had been bred beneath the shelter of drift left stranded by 

 a flood. These five young varied curiously in development. A second nest 

 was placed in a goose-berry bush, in a narrow luxuriant canyon. This nest 

 was abnormally made of leaves, "nothing but leaves". (And the moral of 

 the well-known hymn might fittingly be drawn here, also: the sitter, appar- 

 ently, had no mate; and her three eggs were infertile). My good friend and 

 co-worker, Charles W. Metz, reports the strangest find of which I have any 

 record: On June 28th he found an oblong nest containing SEVEN eggs! 



