vo3. LI1                                                 7 
1934    RimnER AND BENSON, "Is the Poor Bird Demented?" 1 
marked with colored celluloid bands and with paint so that they 
were easily recognizable. This individual probably was a male, 
for its mate had well developed brood patches during the nesting 
season. We found that only one member of a pair develops brood 
patches, and it is likely that this is the female. 
The windows of our rooms in the Life Sciences Building face the 
south and are about twenty feet from the ground. Each is five 
feet wide. In front of each is a ledge a foot in depth. The window 
is composed of a stationary central section and two lateral case- 
ments. The window-pane forms a mirror which is most effective 
when it bears a film of dust and when the room behind is dark. 
The Towhee, standing on the ledge, would face the window and 
assume a threatening attitude by lowering its head, fluffing out 
its feathers, and drooping its wings. It would then leap up at the 
window, striking it with its feet, or with the feet and the beak at a 
height of about ten inches. It would then fall back and immedi- 
ately leap up to strike again. Sometimes it varied the procedure 
by continuing up the pane, clawing at its image as it rose. 
The vigor and duration of the attacks varied. On some occa- 
sions the bird would be content with assuming a threatening 
attitude or with making two or three perfunctory blows at the pane 
with its feet, but at other times it would strike the pane a resound- 
ing blow with its beak at every leap and these leaps were repeated 
as fast as the bird could make them for periods as long as fifteen 
minutes. It was during these most vigorous attacks that it some- 
times would continue to rise and claw at the image after striking 
the first blow. At the end of the most vigorous bouts the bird 
would be patently tired out. 
That the bird was attempting to fight its image was apparent 
to anyone who watched the bird for any length of time. Yet the 
act puzzled some people when they saw it for the first time. One 
person came to inform us that a bird was locked out of its cage 
and attempting to get back into it. Another came to remonstrate 
from thinking we had taken its offspring which it was attempting 
to reach through the window. It was a visitor to one of the rooms 
when the bird was performing that gave us a title: "Is the poor 
bird demented?" 
But it was the image the bird was interested in for it would