£be TOarbler 3 



self eagerly listening for the "mew" which Captain Bendire attributes to the 

 Arctic Towhee. Students familiar with the latter, in the bush, will not 

 need to be told that no mewing was heard. The call is really a whine, dif- 

 ficult of paraphrasing; but it is quite unlike the Catbird's cry. ( Yet it is 

 quite possible that Arizona birds have developed a cry of their own; as do> 

 — for instance, — the Song Sparrows of extreme Northern Minnesota.) No 

 bird "swarms" in Northern Wyoming; and few birds are really abundant. The 

 Arctic Towhee is no exception. The birds just come floating in, along the 



ARCTIC TOWHEE NORMAL NEST AND SITE 



canyon-margins just when these usually begin to show their leafage: about 

 the first of May. Shy creatures they usually are; seldom sitting boldly out 

 in the open for their vesper song, as does the eastern bird. But the male 

 hides among the leafage, often-times quite near the ground. Thence he 

 trills out his motif pensively; the close of the song suggesting that of his neigh- 

 bor of the East. 



The song of the Arctic might well be noted, before we leave this topic. 

 The songs are more varied than those of the eastern bird. They are also 

 somewhat weaker in timbre and dynamic. The closing note is articulated 



