The Birds' Calendar 



the ground. Closely observed, ils plumage is 

 seen to be quite different from the robin's, as 

 the male is pure black above and on the throat, 

 white beneath and on the outermost tail-feathers, 

 and the sides chestnut. In figure and bearing, 

 too, it is a finch, not a thrush; but popular 

 names are commonly founded on the most 

 superficial resemblances, as in the case of the 

 red -winged blackbird, which is also called 

 swamp robin. The name '' towhee " approx- 

 imately represents the sound it frequently makes, 

 as one finds it furtively hopping about in the 

 undergrowth, picking over the dead leaves. 



No ornithologist would like to be called upon 

 to give a satisfactory reason for all his opinions, 

 but he would say decidedly that there are very 

 different ways of skulking among the bushes ; 

 the catbird's way is suspicious — a semi-confes- 

 sion that it is in mischief; the chewink's way 

 is only unobtrusiveness and modesty. The 

 name chewink is another attempt to imitate its 

 sound, but vowels and consonants are rarely 

 heard with much distinctness in a bird's notes, 

 and considerable imagination must be exercised 

 in giving them onomatopoetic names. 



Possessed of a rich and rather strong voice, 

 the chewinks have two or three melodious 



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