THE SPURRED TOWHEE. 



i6i 



the term "chaparral" furtlier south. 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'liee. as a name, is a manifest corrujition of /ore her, or fo-hwi', 

 an imitati\'e wurd, after the Ijird's must famiHar note. Chewink' is an 

 attempt along the same line, l)ul Marie is what the l)ir(l seems to me to say. 

 It is on this account alone that the liird is said to "mew" and is called 



SI'URRED TOWUEE, MALE. 



"Catbird." The true Catbird, however, always says Ma-a 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 varimisly rendered as "Chcc-tcrr, pilly, zvillv, tc/V/v." 

 "Chip. ah. to-a'-hrr-i'i'" and "Vang, kit-cr-cr,'' is deliveVed from the top of 

 a bush or the low liml) 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 ins])ection, for, as Jones says of its cousin^ : "He is a ner- 

 vous fellow, empiiasizing his disturbance at your intrusion witii a nervous 



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



