Notes from Field and Study 



253 



The keeping of the record has been a 

 fine stimulus to careful observation, and 

 a source of pleasure in seeing and knowing 

 our wild bird callers. — Mr. .\nd Mks. 

 I. N. Mitchell, 2921 Cedar Si., Mil- 

 waukee. 



A Discovery in Regard to the Towhee 



One day during the last week of May of 

 this year, my attention was attracted by 

 the cry of little birds in the dense vines of 

 a honeysuckle on the front porch of a 

 country home near Knoxville, Tennessee. 

 I began looking for the father and mother 

 birds, which I knew must be somewhere 

 near-by. In a few minutes I discovered 

 them on the ground under a near-by tree, 

 scratching and hunting industriously for 

 food. Judging from their form and color, 

 they were strangers to me, so I made a 

 careful note of both. They were smaller 

 than a robin; their upper parts, throat and 

 upper breast, were black; underneath was 

 grayish white, with patches of rusty red, 

 or chestnut on the sides, and on the wings 

 and rounded tail were patches of white. 



When I moved to get a nearer view of 

 them, they became panic-stricken, gave 

 up their search for food, and flew to a 

 bush nearb>'. with the cr\" "Che wink I 

 Chewink!' 



I had never seen the Chewink, but knew 

 his call. But these babies in the vines 

 surely could not be theirs, if they were 

 Chewinks. for all authorities on birds 

 which I had ever consulted distinctly 

 stated that Chewinks never built any- 

 where except on the ground in thickets or 

 blackberry patches. I then decided that 

 the hungery little nestlings in the honey- 

 suckle vines could not be theirs. I sat 

 perfectly quiet for a few minutes, and the 

 birds, after looking nervously around a 

 number of times, flew down to the ground, 

 secured the worms they had dropped, and 

 flew into the vines, whence issued loud 

 cries of joy. 



I watched these birds for several days, 

 and, in the meanwhile, consulted every 

 book and magazine I could find in 

 regard to them. The size, color, form and 



call, all declared them to be the Che- 

 wink, but the location of the nest contra- 

 dicted it. 



Besides the call 'Chewinkl' the male 

 would often perch on the top of a low 

 cedar or shrub, and repeat again and 

 again 'Wink — pilla-willa, willal' as the 

 mother bird fed the little ones. 



Another pair appeared, and built in 

 another honeysuckle vine near the rear of 

 the house. From a thicket, just a short 

 distance from these vines, came numberless 

 cries of 'Chewink! Towhee! Chewink!' 



I met the president of the East Ten- 

 nessee Audubon Society a few days after 

 this, and told him of these birds, giving 

 color and size, but omitting the nest, and 

 he immediately said that it must be the 

 Chewink; but when I told him where the 

 nest was, he was puzzled. A day or two 

 after this, he came out from town, through 

 the hot summer sun, to see if he could solve 

 the problem. Both nests were now de- 

 serted. After much work in trying to 

 penetrate the labyrinth of vines, he dis- 

 covered the nest and brought it forth. 

 It was a loosely thrown-together affair 

 of sticks, dry leaves and grass. It was 

 the Chewinks' nest, and proves that they 

 do not always build on the ground. 



At this country home where these birds 

 built, there were no children, cats or dogs, 

 to frighten birds, and the inmates of the 

 home were all lovers of birds; so this may 

 account for the selection of the location 

 of these nests. — Nell Hampton Dick. 

 Kno.vville, Tcnn. 



A Chipping Spairow Family 



On June 19, 191 1, an interesting family 

 of Chipping Sparrows graduated from a 

 boxwood tree standing in a tub on our 

 front porch. 



It was some days after Mrs. Chippie's 

 first appearance there before she quite 

 decided to build. She would get into the 

 tree, fuss around a few minutes, then fly 

 away, occasionally bringing a hair or 

 bit of fuzz. After three or four days of 

 indecision, she went to work in earnest. 



When the nest was completed, she laid 



