264 



NATURE SKETCHES IN TEMPERATE AMERICA 



Some years ago I found a pair ha^'ing their nest on the ground 

 in a neighbor's strawberry patch skirting the woods. I deemed 

 this Httle home of sufficient interest to present it here in the 

 photographic illustration at the beginning of this sketch. Only 

 three eggs were laid when the mother bird decided to set on 

 them. They were white and lightly speckled with reddish brown 

 over the surface. Three young, which left on July fourteenth, 

 were successfully reared from this nest. During the past 

 season another pair had their nest on the ground among the 

 leaves in the woods near the lakeshore bluff. This nest also 

 contained three eggs. After two of the eggs had hatched, one 

 of the young, on the third day, was destroyed by some animal, 

 so the only remaining young, after living a precarious life, 

 was finally ushered away to safe quarters. The handsome 

 chewinks are early arrivals in the spring and they remain 

 througiiout the summer, having two broods, the birds leaving 

 about the last of October. 



Male Che wi nil or Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus). 



