BIRDS OF THE WEST 65 



would almost suspect that he had escaped from the cage of the 

 King of the Isle of Spice. 



I have always noticed him by a roadside and his nest is 

 always low rather than high up in the branches, and I have no 

 doubt he chooses such a place for his nest because his worst 

 enemies are the birds of prey. All of them except always the blue 

 jay, who is not really a bird of prey, but only a degenerate, spend 

 their time and build their nests away from the haunts of men. 

 Thus the little song birds frequent the thoroughfares. If we 

 could only get the butcher-bird to move to town, away would go 

 the English sparrows. However he comes to town only occasional- 

 ly but when he does he has a high old time cleaning up the spar- 

 rows. 



CHEWINK. 



In Connecticut where it is more common than in the west, 

 this was my favorite bird. As a child there were many fancies 

 that clung about the bird and it seemed to me that the "chewink" 

 was making love to the "towhee" for his mate, to a novice is an 

 entirely different bird. 



Rarity makes almost anything a prize whether it be diamonds, 

 charity, books, sweetbreads or the rara avis. 



Last summer I searched a long time for a nest. The birds 

 betrayed by their anxiety that it was near and it is a wonder that 

 the nest and its eggs were not crushed for it was on the ground 

 among the dry leaves that were in abundance in the little thick- 

 et. In fact it was made of them. If it had been stepped upon, 

 several cowbird eggs would have disappeared too, for the little 

 nest was packed full of the eggs of both birds. As it was, the 

 cowbird eggs disappeared mysteriously and the chewink was the 

 gainer by my visit. 



There is always a special fascination for the birds among 

 whom the females are wholly different from the males as is the 

 ease with the chewink, the indigo bird, the grosbeak, the red- 

 start, the oriole, the goldfinch and most of our very conspicuous 

 birds, and there is a reason or an instinct in nature for the female 

 to be less conspicuous, for they spend so much time upon their 

 nests that their enemies have a far better chance to detect and 

 secure them. 



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