The Birds and Poets 35 



Our blue jay has a very erect and conspicuous 

 crest, which has doubtless been gradually acquired 

 through years of sauciness, in accordance with the 

 laws of natural selection and variation! 



Among my favorite April visitors is the towhee 

 or chewink. This fine bird has been neglected 

 by ornithologists and poets alike, and his beauti- 

 ful coat and quiet, graceful habits are "unhonored 

 and unsung." He is as beautiful in vernal 

 plumage as the Blackburnian warbler, or the 

 American redstart, but, compared with the host 

 of admirers of these forest favorites, "there are 

 very few to love and none to praise" the modest 

 towhee. I stood within fifteen feet of a beautiful 

 male towhee in woods bordering the Desplaines 

 River, about the i5th of April, and for several 

 minutes watched him scratch (both feet together) 

 and tumble the dead leaves about, in search of 

 food. His beautiful velvety black head and 

 shoulders, and his bright vest of reddish brown, 

 and his long, graceful body, and his conspicuous 

 white tail feathers, made him as exquisite a wood's 

 picture as one often sees. 



The towhee is modest, without stealth; proud, 

 without arrogance; beautiful, without vanity. He 

 seeks "the untrodden ways," and is coy and retir- 

 ing in his habits. You will always find him 

 browsing among the leaves, or twitching about 

 among the low branches of shrubs or in brush piles. 

 He seldom or never even takes a high perch, so 

 that his beautiful coat may be seen and admired. 



