does, except possibh' ihc brown ihrusli. and the lazy man may well ])ass by the 

 industrious ant and go t(.) the towhee for inspiration. Xo one waxes mlhusiastic 

 over its musical ability, but the soilc: is given with such right good will that it 

 is sure to satisfy the hearer as, no doubt, it does the bird himself. Seton interprets 

 it to a nicety with the phrase '"chuck-burr, pill-a-will-a-will-a." The towhee in- 

 cludes in its bill of fare beetles and their larvae, ants, moths, caterpillars, grass- 

 hoppers and flies, and also in Texas the boll weevil. Wild fruit and berries 

 complete the list.. 



This is a very common but humble and inoffensive species, frequenting close 

 sheltered thickets, where it spends most of its time in scratching up the leaves 

 for worms and for the larvte and eggs of insects. It is far from being shy, 

 frequently suffering a person to walk round the bush or thicket where it is at 

 work without betraying any marks of alarm, and when disturbed uttering the 

 notes towhe repeatedly. At times the male mounts to the top of a small 

 tree and chants his few simple notes for an hour at a time. These are loud, not 

 unmuscial, somewhat resembling those of the Yellowhammer of Great Britain, 

 but more mellow and more varied. 



The Chewink is fond of thickets with a southern exposure, near streams of 

 water, and where there are plenty of dry leaves, and is found generally over 

 the whole of the eastern United States. He is not gregarious, and you seldom 

 see more than two together. These birds arrive in Pennsylvania abotit the middle 

 or 20th of April, and begin building about the first week in May. The nest is 

 fixed on the ground among the dry leaves near and sometimes under a thicket of 

 briars, and is large and substantial. The outside is formed of leaves and pieces 

 of grape-vine bark, and the inside of fine stalks of dry grass, the cavity completely 

 sunk beneath the surface of the ground and sometimes half covered above with 

 dry grass or hay. The eggs are usually five, of a pale flesh color, thickly marked 

 with specks of rufous, most numerous near the great end. The young are pro- 

 duced about the beginning of June, and a second brood commonly succeeds in 

 the same season. 



This bird rarely winters north of the State of Maryland, retiring from Penn- 

 sylvania to the south about the 12th of October. Yet in the middle districts of 

 X'irginia and thence south to Florida, I found it abundant during the months of 

 January, February and March. Its usual food is obtained by scratching up the 

 leaves; it also feeds, like the rest of its tribe, on various hard seeds and gravel, 

 but rarely commits any depredation on the harvest of the husbandman, generally 

 preferring the Avoods and traversing the bottom of fences sheltered with briars. 

 In Mrginia it is called the Bulfinch, in manv places the Towhe-bird, in Pennsyl- 

 vania the Chewink, and by others the Swamp Robin. He contributes a little to 

 the harmony of our woods in spring and summer, and is remarkable for the 

 cunning with which he conceals his nest. He shows great affection for his 

 young, and the deepest distress on the appearance of their mortal enemy, the 

 l)lack snake. 



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