The Spotted Towhees 



able kind of a way. And, in general, the song is a simple, rapid itera- 

 tion, a churr. Yet in Owens Valley near Lone Pine, I heard putzee 

 putzee putzee, and again from another throat a strange ventriloquial con- 

 tortion, hamx hamx ham(a)x. Not once in that section did I hear the 

 familiar wheeze, or churr; and the songs were all those of foreigners. In 



Taken in Modoc Connlv 



NEST AND EGGS OF THE NEVADA SPOTTED TOWHEE 



Photo by the Author 



the Yosemite Valley we heard a peculiar, lengthy, aspirated preface, 

 hoorip z' z' z' \ and this came in precisely similar accents from individuals a 

 mile apart. 



The "liberty of difference" pertains, also, as certainly, to the ordi- 

 nary scolding, or keep-in-touch note, marie. This varies by shades too 

 subtle to describe; but the clear marie of Washington birds has shaded 

 off in the case of P. m. montanus of southern Arizona (the Patagonia 

 Mountains, to be explicit) to a blurred murr. Similarly the drawling 

 meay, or meayuh of P. m. oregonus has become meow yaaar in Santa Cruz 



39^ 



