FINCHES, ETC.: GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE 711 
interest in bread crumbs and seemed to instantly distinguish between 
the two. 
“The adult Towhees never came to our hands for food, but became 
quite indifferent to our presence and worked freely about the ground 
in front of our open kitchen; indeed, often about the kitchen floor if 
we remained quiet. The juvenal, in striking contrast, quickly became 
friendly and unsuspicious, but rejected nut meat unless finely broken 
up, and clearly preferred the bread crumbs. These it would come and 
take from our hands when the crumb was patiently held down to the 
level of its head, though it never came with reckless abandon. Once 
on the way to my hand, it paused to snatch a live fly from the floor, 
and then came on for its crumb. It soon learned, too, to come to the 
table, at my elbow, and help itself to the litter of crumbs always kept 
there. The older bird of the year, while slightly less confiding, was 
much less suspicious than were the adults, whose survival to maturity 
was no doubt the direct result of serious suspicion of all objects that 
moved. ,, 
After working for a month at the same cabin, the Lawes moved 
to one some four hundred yards distant, hidden from the old one by 
a knoll. At first, Mr. Law relates, “we had no Green-tailed Towhee 
boarders there, but after a few days a banded one appeared and ran 
toward us in apparent anticipation. Bread crumbs quickly thrown 
out were pounced upon, and we felt sure “our juvenal” had found us, 
although this bird had now acquired its full post-juvenal plumage. 
From then on it was usually nearby. 
“An old candy box was now kept liberally filled with crumbs 
and cracked wheat, usually on a chair just inside the kitchen door, 
but later on the table. 
“We learned to recognize a certain squeak note as a plaint for food. 
It was uttered when the door was closed and no food available. A 
bird on the window sill looking in meant 1 please open the door/ and 
in it came as soon as the door did open. 
“At 11:05 a. m., on September 20, we trapped this bird to confirm 
our belief that it was No. 76549. The trap had been set only three 
minutes. Before 12:00 m., it was back in the food box on the kitchen 
chair within two feet of Mrs. Law, contentedly gorging itself. 
“Except on September 21, when it was absent all day, it remained 
about until late on September 27. As no other Green-tailed Towhees 
were seen after that and the species had been rare for two weeks, we 
assumed that instinct for migration had overcome pleasure of easy 
food” (1926a, pp. 133-134). 
Additional Literature.—Rust, H. J., Condor, XIX, 36, 1917 (nest). 
