252 



LAND BIRDS 



brush, or running swiftly across the open spaces from 

 bush to bush on the arid mountain sides, the Green- 

 tailed TWhee has a manner distinctly his own. You 

 may know him by his semi-erectile chestnut 

 ■^ crown, white throat, and green tail. 

 jjl% His alarm note is a cat-like mew, lacking 

 the harshness of the note of the catbird, and 

 the insistent" force of that of the spurred 

 towhee. It is a polite protest against 

 your intrusion. His song 

 has somewhat of a thrush- 

 like quality, but is more varied, possessing 

 a vigor and enthusiasm not found in that 

 of the more quiet singer. 



His nest is hidden in, or under, one of the 

 / stunted bushes with which the rocky ground 

 is covered, and, brooding there day after day, 

 his olive mate is safe in her protective coloring. 

 Newly hatched Towhees are the same naked 

 nestlings, whether cuddled in a chaparral- 

 sheltered nest of the mountains or rocked in 

 a garden rosebush ; dark bluish gray in color, 

 with yellow bills, they are covered with a thin 

 whitish down. They feather rapidly, and leave 

 the nest when from ten to twelve days 

 old, those of the warmer localities ma- 

 turing somewhat sooner than those born 

 on the edge of the Boreal zone. They follow the adults 

 for several weeks, learning to jump forward and kick 

 out backward, in scratching for their food, just as the 





592.1. Green- 

 tailed Towhee. 



" A manner distinctly 

 his own?' 



