SPARROWS AND FINCHES 55 



sat at his literary labors several hours a day. 

 It was interesting to note that although the 

 nest was built entirely of dead grass, the material 

 was gathered from the roadsides rather than 

 from the abundance of the haymow. 



Chewink. A bird you will often find in early 

 April scratching in the dry leaves in the parks 

 is the Chewink, or Towhee, as he is called. 

 These names almost exactly represent his call 

 notes as he flies up to a low bush, ^' chewi7ik^ 

 chewink, towhee, towhee,''^ notes rather metallic in 

 tone but not at all unpleasant. As he spends 

 most of his time on the ground, he is also called 

 the Ground Robin. He is usually found in second 

 growth tracts and bush-grown pastures, but 

 always, as I have observed, near the ground. 

 The Chewink is a bird of good temper, as his 

 notes indicate, vivacious and rather winsome 

 in his ways. He is not a pretentious singer, but 

 during the season of mating and nesting the 

 male sings a strain somewhat limited in range 

 but clear and pleasing, which has been written 

 thus: '' Chuck-burr, pill-a-will-a-will-a-will.'*^ 



In dress the Chewink is a distinguished bird. 

 His black upper parts, throat and breast, bright 

 chestnut-red sides, white belly, and dashes of 

 white here and there form an unusual combina- 

 tion of colors which renders him quite con- 

 spicuous in the leafless woods of April. With 

 the female the black is replaced with lightish 

 brown, the chestnut-red is much lighter and the 

 tail umber. The iris of the eye is red. 



The nest of the Chewink, on the ground or 

 near it, is of dry leaves, grass and plant fibre, 



