About eastern and spotted towhees: there seems to be a pretty substantial
gap in the U.S. part of the Great Plains where there are no Rufous-sided
Towhees, but, very roughly, eastern types breed in e. or far e. ND, SD, NE
and KS and ne. OK. Spotted towhees surely or probably breed in the uplands
of the western parts of all these states. I don't know if there are any
places where their ranges meet, and it would be interesting to look at
older publications about this. Along some of the east-west rivers in
states such as Nebraska would be the place to look; that's where orioles
and some others hybridize.

Dennis Paulson, Director phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416