>From another of my favorite books, Birds of the Pacific States by Ralph
Hoffmann,

Spotted Towhee
As soon as the winter rains start the first ferns from the mould, the song of
the Spotted Towhee sounds with monotonous peristence from a perch in a tree
or from brush thickets, bree, long drawn out and with a suggestion of an l as
well as the r. Throughout the year the Towhee utters a cat-like call quee,
higher than the song or a drawled chee ee, but often its presence is first
indicated by the loud rustle of dry leaves as the bird scratches vigorously
in the thicket.

Jim Rosso
Sammamsih
jlrosso at aol.com