I don't imagine anyone will be beating a path to my door for this, but for
the last month I've had a male towhee at my feeder in Seattle that, from
plumage characters, is surely from the interior. The rufous on its sides
is a bit paler than that on the resident birds, and the spots on its
scapulars and coverts are much larger and more conspicuous; it is really a
star-spangled bird. Also, the white spots on the outer tail feathers are
about twice as long as in local birds. It could be the subspecies east of
the Cascades or one from even farther east. Has anyone else seen such
birds west of the Cascades? There are no specimens in either Burke or
Slater museums, and I've always assumed interior birds migrate south in
winter (and this isolated instance doesn't change that conclusion,
obviously).

Dennis Paulson 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