Evening star., 1944-01-24
This and That
By Charles E. Truce1ueu.

Everybody in the neighborhood was
excited about the new bird. It was a
nttie smaller Than robin, and had
black on its head and back. It showed
some white spots on wing and tail.
1t was scratching in the leaves at a
great rate. Every one thought it must
be robin, very early robin; its breast
was reddish, but had white in the center.
Certainly an unusual robin
1t wasn't, OF course, a robin at all.
1t was towhee, sometimes called the
chewink. from its call notes.
In certain sections of the country H.
IS known as the ground robin," not a
bad name for it, really.
+ \
Fox sparrows and white throated SPAR
rows are two more birds which do a
great deal of scratching around in leaves.
The fox sparrow, which usually shows
late In January, or early February, is
sometimes mistaken for a wood thrush.
A few, very few, stay all winter, but
mostly they are migratory.
The White-throated sparrow stays here
all winter, after its arrival in the fall,
1t is larger than the English sparrow.
and has very brown back with broad
brown and white stripes on its head.
Ihere Is whitish patch on the throat
which Is really pale gray. The white
stripes on the head are yellowish toward
the bill; these yellow stripes become
much more intense in few weeks.
The toWhee is about eight inches long.
1t is beautiful and striking bird,
especially so when seen at close range.
Then its white and bits of gold with
the black head and the reddish breast.
combine to make an unforgettable pic
ture. To have this bird close at hand is
one OF the best reasons for establishing
window sill feeder. 1t will eat the
ordinary seed mixtures but is mostly
attracted to neighborhood, in the first
place, by dogwood berries, of which it
is very fond
The female is like her mate, except
that the black portions are replaced bv
brown. Young males resemble the
mother more than the father. The male
Is much more likely to come to feeding
station. In our own yard we had male
toWhee all OF one winter. He tolerated
no other bird at the feeding place, while
ne was present, but was not nasty or
mean about it.
y
This Is a bird of the country and
suburbs Few of them will come to the
city. They even tend to disappear from
suburban communities which become
fully built up.
There is hardly any mistakinp this
one in flower border, where it uses it's
legs exactly as a hen does, in scratching
I on 01yr1 ~
In the tray OF feeding station, although
there is, OF course. no reason at all for
the action.
The towhee, being a scratching bird,
simply cannot resist doing it, when feed
ing. 1t is as much life habit with it
as bringing food to the mouth is with
a human.
Few songbirds are more glowing or
dainty than the towhee, despite the fact
that 1t is of pretty good size.
1t is the precise combination of colors.
with clean glowing tints, which gives this
effect.
In addition to being called ground
robin, the chewink is sometimes called
the swamp robin and the marsh robin.
In some sections of Virginia people name
it the bullfnch. Other popular names
for it are jo-ree, bush bird and turkey
sparrow.
Amateur observers should keep in
mind that the towhee is something of a
ventriloquist, and can throw" his voice,
so that in looking for him it will be
necessary to look in more than one
direction, and especially to try and spot
him where he does not seem to be. The
nest of the towhee is favorite of the
cowbird, when she wants to lay her eggs
in Snme other birds nest !