Fox Sparrow
Its rich red-brown rump and tail are sufficient to distinguish this bird from the other sparrows, but not always from the Hermit Thrush, a bird with a surprisingly similar color-pattern when seen from the rear or in flight. The thrush has a slenderer bill, of course, and has the habit of elevating the tail when it alights. Usually, the Fox Sparrow occurs in flocks; in spring it indulges itself in song—a rich, ringing melody, among the most impressive of our sparrow songs. The call-note is a heavy tschŭp, somewhat like the alarm-cry of the Brown Thrasher. Look for the Fox Sparrow in thick woodlands, among grapevines and similar tangles. This species responds readily to squeaking.
TOWHEE
Pipilo erythrophthalmus erythrophthalmus (Linnæus)
Other Names.—Chewink; Ground Robin; Swamp Robin; Joree; Guffee (local).
Description.—A little smaller than a Robin, with long tail and comparatively short wings. Male: Head, neck, upper breast, and upperparts black, the base and part of the outer web of the primaries, and spots on the tertials, white; three outer tail-feathers with white tips, the outer web of the outer feather entirely white; sides and under tail-coverts rich reddish brown, bordered irregularly with black spots along sides of belly; belly white; eyes bright red; bill black. Female: Similar in pattern, but black of male replaced throughout by rich, grayish brown, quite bright in some individuals; eyes bright reddish brown. Length: 8½ inches.
Range in Pennsylvania.—An abundant migrant and summer resident in all woodlands, usually from early or mid-April to late October or later. Occasionally it is found in the dead of winter, even when the snow is deep.
Nest.—A cup of grasses and slender weed-stalks, generally placed on the ground, rarely in a low bush, lined with finer materials, and usually located in the woodlands at the base of a small tree, under a May-apple plant, or in a bank. Eggs: 3 to 5, white, thickly, evenly, and finely spotted, and sometimes blotched with reddish brown, grayish, and black.
Towhee, Male
The Towhee’s interesting habit of scratching among the leaves is characteristic and rather amusing. Like a little hen, the bird bustles about on the ground, jumping back and forth as the leaf-mold flies and as the small terrestrial insects and fallen weed-seeds are exposed. A Towhee thus hunting for food may make a laughably big noise.
Its flight is jerky, not usually rapid, and the tail pumps and flashes considerably, showing the white tips of the outer feathers plainly. None of our woodland birds more clearly displays white in the tail than does this ground-inhabiting species, unless it is the smaller Junco.
Listen for the often-repeated, rather loud call-note of this bird, too-whee, as he elevates his crest and flicks his tail. The song is rather musical and resembles somewhat the following syllabization prit-tel-lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, the last part being run together so rapidly as to be scarcely pronounceable. The Towhee sings from the top of a bush or low tree and, while performing, lets his tail hang limp and lifts and throws back his head.