MR. AND MRS. CHE WINK 



sides. His eyes are red like the dove's. The 

 tail when spread is bordered with white. The 

 female is a warm brown where the male is 

 black, otherwise the sexes are alike. 



After dinner my guests departed. Later 

 I looked them up. The female was perched 

 on a horizontal limb, while about ten feet 

 away the two dudes strutted and spread their 

 wings and tails, in an effort to affect the 

 choice of the demure maiden. For three days 

 the rivals showed off before the little lady in 

 brown and orange. The morning of the 

 fourth day only two of the birds came to 

 breakfast. The little lady had made her 

 choice, and was now a bride. The other 

 suitor had disappeared, perhaps to look up a 

 second choice. Housekeeping was a failure 

 with the newly wedded pair for two years. 

 Nest after nest was looted by snakes until 

 the third year. That year the birds reared 

 a family of four. Mrs. Chewink was very 

 industrious, and worked early and late gath- 

 ering straws, rootlets, and bits of weed- 

 stalk for a nest. Mr. Chewink turned out 

 175 



