Show Out of Doors in the West Sketches of Natural History in the Rocky Mountain Plateau Edited by J. H. Professor of Nature Study in the University of Western Towhees When you go into our canyons in spring or sum one of birds most likely to be seen is the Towhee This bird is and brown in color and almost as large as but more The wings and tail are but marked with much white like a sprinkling of white over the The white markings a gauzy mantle of silver thrown over the shoulders show plainly in When you follow up this finely colored he shows his displeasure by a call that sounds like the of a The Towhee mews but not as perfectly as the true catbird and he is often called the catbird on that But the Towhee sings a sweet and lively and has also a note as he flits from bush to In the his song is often loud and One writer observes that the Towhee's song is and with all the swing of the and pitched to a minor A bird that sings so blithesome a must surely be and so he with that pretty whom he courts and cares the Towhee is and seems to enjoy your watching He flits in and out of the bushes and moving his long tail so gracefully that you soon greatly admire this interesting creature and watch him by the You will discover that the Towhees are among our liveliest and most They are mainly birds of the canyons and but are found also on sage-brush benches and along brushy river Last summer we observed them by the hour for days at a in several of the canyons of southern They are especially-fond of running along pole keeping near to the and looking back at you as if half in alarm and half in No bird-lover would ever think of harming one of these quaint and cheerful friends so charmingly dressed and so happy in song and Nor would any boy or girl of good sense and kindly feeling disturb the cozy so neatly built under a bush on the hill many says I was following a deep fissure in the his ditty came dripping down to me from some spot far up the steep mountain little cascade of song mingling with the cascades of the Towhees have strong feet and scratch for a method of scratching is peculiar-a jump forward The bill is greatly m and notched near the The feet are the claws The tail is much longer than the We have four kinds three species and one I. The Arctic Towhee neck and chest black and mixed with olive belly flanks reddish wings and tail with extensive white white on ends of outer tail In the female the black is replaced by olive brown and the white markings are This is a common bird in where it is It has a pretty and the mew of a not unlike that of the It nests in the thickets of Salt Lake and occasionally comes about doorsteps in Bountiful to pick up The or Spurred Towhee and-hind claw as long as the bill than in upper parts black except for grayish white markings and rufous of sides less of terminal white blotch on outer Length from to Female with the deep black replaced by slaty Their song is a little but when alarmed they have a note something like the mew of a On this account they are popularly known as This species rarely comes lower than feet elevation to make its Green-tailed Towhee The Canyon Towhee Top of head light rest of upper parts and sides plain dull grayish throat finely larger spots almost forming a patch on middle of belly hinder part of and lower tail coverts yellowish It is to inches The rufous crown a loud metallic chip repeated four and in flight a robin-like are characteristics mentioned by These are found chiefly to the south and east of our especially in Colorado and p. g 1 1 Abert's Towhee r TT Upper parts grayish darkest on lores and chin quills edged with lower parts pinkish lighter on deepening to tawny on under tail This plainly colored largest of North American from to found-in-southern the mainly on the Green Tailed Towhee This is a familiar bird of our sage-brush whose soft proclaims his It was accurately described in a former article by The green tail does not impress you in the since the tail is not the most distinctive the burnt-orange crown is the best mark for The curious note is generally uttered when anything unusual attracts the bird's as when you approach With elevated tail and ous reddish cap it hops As it flies above the the greenish back and tail give an occasional flash in the The song is fine and has been compared with that of the In this species is little like the other towhees and more like a but the pretty chestnut cap and green coloring give it an appearance of great beauty at close A Mozart of The West This Western Towhee has no analogue in the Ours is a bird of the running sometimes like a deer from one clump to another or darting like a gleam over the tops of the He often mounts a boulder or a and sings a and finely modulated with such ability that he seems of closer kin to the thrushes or thrashers than to the Eastern ornithologists discover not the remotest suggestion of the towhee minstrelsy in his prolonged and well-articulated and declare that it would be difficult to find a finer lyrist among the pretty Mozart of the West is sive and inapt title the green-tailed Keysor declares that he might much more appropriately be called the chestnut-crowned for his cope is rich and the the most conspicuous part of his is often held making him look quite His upper parts are becoming slightly deeper green on the from which fact he derives his common His white throat and chin are a further diagnostic The bright yellow of the edge of the under coverts and auxiliaries is seldom on account of the extreme wariness of the Over the bushy plain he will dart and skim and keeping just ahead of singing his musical but always at a safe distance |