130 Birds Every Child Should Know 



to the door; or even on the window-silL 

 The song, the EngHsh, the chipping, the field, 

 and the white-throated sparrows — any one or 

 all of these cousins — usually hop about with 

 the chewinks most amicably and with no 

 greater ease of manner ; but the larger chewink 

 hops more energetically and precisely than any 

 of them, like a mechanical toy. 



Heretofore I had thought of this large, vigor- 

 ous bunting as a rather shy or at least self- 

 sufficient bird with no desire to be neighbourly. 

 His readiness to be friends when sure of the 

 genuiness of the invitation, was a delightful 

 surprise. From late April until late October 

 my softly-whistled towhee has rarely failed to 

 bring a response from some pensioner, either in 

 the woodland thicket or among the rhododen- 

 drons next the piazza where the seeds have 

 been scattered by the wind. Chewink, or towhee 

 comes the brisk call from wherever the busy 

 bunting is foraging. The chickadee, whippoor- 

 will, phoebe and pewee also tell you their 

 names, but this bird announces himself by two 

 names, so you need make no mistake. 



Because he was hatched in a ground nest and 

 loves to scratch about on the ground for insects, 

 making the dead leaves and earth rubbish fly 

 like any barnyard fowl, the towhee it often 

 called the ground robin. He is a little smaller 

 than robin-redbreast. Looked down upon from 



