Icinity of Manitou many trips were taken by the zealous pedestrian. Some
of the dry, steep sides of the first
range of mountains were hard climbing, but it was necessary to make
the effort in order to discover their avian resources.
One of the
first birds met with on these unpromising acclivities was the spurred
towhee
of the Rockies. In his attire he closely resembles the towhee, or
"chewink," of the East, but has as an extra ornament a beautiful
sprinkling of white on his back and wings, which makes him look as if he
had thrown
a gauzy mantle of silver over his shoulders. But his song is different
from our eastern towhee's. My notes say that it is "a cross between
the song of the chewink and that of dickcissel," and I shall stand by
that assertion until I find good reason to disown it--should that time
ever come. The opening syllabication is like dickcissel's;
then follows
a trill of no specially definable character.
There are times when
he sings with more than his wonted force, an
