THE SPURRED TOWHEE. 



i6i 



llie term "chaparral" further soutli. It is, therefore, narrowly confined to the 

 vicinity of streams in the more open country, but it abounds along the foot- 

 hills and follows up the deeper valleys of the Cascades nearly to the divide. 



Tow'hee, as a name, is a manifest corruption of tozi.' lice, or to-hzvi', 

 an imitati\'e word, after the bird's most fann'liar note. Chewink' is an 

 attempt along the same line, but Marie is what the bird seems to me to say. 

 It is on this account aldiic that the bird is said to "mew" and is called 



^"^raKs 



SPURRED TOWHEE. MALE. 



"Catbird." The true Catbird, however, always says Ma-d ry. and there is no 

 cause for confusion. During excitement or alarm the Towhee's note is 

 always shortened and sharpened to Mrie. with a flirt and jet, and a flash of 

 the eye. The song variously rendered as "Chce-tcrr, pilly, ivilly, zvilly," 

 "Chip, ah. tozi'-hec-ec" and "Yang, kit-cr-cr," is delivered from the top of 

 a bush or the low limb of a tree ; and while monotonous and very simple, it 

 retains the pleasing quality of that of the eastern bird. The singer will not 

 stand for close inspection, for, as Jones says of its cousin": "He is a ner- 

 vous fellow, emphasizing his disturbance at your intrusion with a nervous 



a. Lynds Jones in Dawson's "The Birds of Ohio," p. 94. 



