316 
The Towhee 
search of cabbage-worms, potato-bugs, and such other small creaturesjj, 
many of which are destructive to crops. 
It will thus be seen that the Towhee is a very useful bird to mankind 
and should receive the most careful protection by everyone. In fact, iii[ 
most States where this bird is found it is protected by law, and anyonej 
found killing a Towhee is liable to fine or imprisonment and it is rightj; 
that this should be so. 
They eat also such things as grasshoppers, cockroaches and flies, and 
perfectly adore the long juicy bodies of earthworms. It is for this sort 
of food that the Towhees search so diligently on the ground in a thicket, |j 
where we may hear them scratching among the fallen leaves and throw- 1 
ing them about with an energy and vigor surprising in a bird which’i 
measures only about eight and a half inches in length. 
John James Audubon, the great naturalist and artist, who was such - 
a close observer of birds, in writing of the Towhee said : “The young | 
What 
Audubon Said 
leave the nest long before they are able to fly, and follow the mother 
about on the ground for several days. Some of the nests of this species 
are so well concealed that in order to discover them one requires to 
stand quite still on the first appearance of the mother. I have myself 
several times had to regret not taking this precaution. 
The favorite haunts of the Towhee Buntings are dry 
barren tracts, but not, as others have said, low and 
swampy grounds, at least during the season of incubation. In the 
Barrens of Kentucky they are found in the greatest abundance. 
“Their migrations are performed by day, from bush to bush, and 
they seem to be much at a loss when a large extent of forest is to. be 
traversed by them. They perform these journeys almost singly. The 
females set out before the males in autumn, and the males before the 
females in spring, the latter not appearing in the Middle Districts until 
the end of April, a fortnight after the males have arrived. Many of 
them pass the confines of the United States in their migrations southward 
and northward. They generally rest on the ground at night, when many 
are caught by weasels and other small quadrupeds.” 
Besides the common Towhee there are about fifteen other kinds of 
Towhees in North America, all but one western, as, the Oregon Tow- 
hee, Canon Towhee, and Green-tailed Towhee. The one which most 
closely resembles that of the Eastern States is the White-eyed Towhee, 
found in summer from the coastal country of North Carolina southward 
through Florida. 
Classification and Distribution 
The Towhee belongs to the Order Passeres, Family Fringillidce, and Genus 
Pipilo. Its scientific name is Pipilo erythropthahnus erythropthalmus. It is dis- 
tributed in summer throughout the United States and southeastern Canada, and 
winters in the Southern States. The White-eyed Towhee is a subspecies (P. e. 
alleni) of the South Atlantic Coast and Florida. 
This and other Educational Leaflets are for sale, at 5 cents each, by the National Association of 
Audubon Societies, 1974 Broadway, New York City. Lists given on request. 
