TOWHEE; CHEWINK 313 



TOWHEE; CHEWINK; GROUND-ROBIN 



1850. Many a time I have expected to find a wood- 

 chuck, or rabbit, or a gray squirrel, when it was the 

 ground-robin rustling the leaves. 



1850. I noticed a singular instance of ventriloquism 

 to-day in a male chewink singing on the top of a young 

 oak. It was difficult to believe that the last part 

 of his strain, the concluding jingle, did not proceed 

 from a different quarter, a woodside many rods off. 

 Hip-you^ he-he-he-he. It was long before I was satis- 

 fied that the last part was not the answer of his 

 mate given in exact time. I endeavored to get between 

 the two ; indeed, I seemed to be almost between them 

 already. 



May 1, 1852. I hear the first towhee finch. He says 

 to-wee, to-wee, and another, much farther oft' than I sup- 

 posed when I went in search of him, says whip your 

 ch-r-r-r-r-r-r, with a metallic ring. 



May 23, 1853. How different the ramrod jingle of 

 the chewink or any bird's note sounds now at 5 p. M. in 

 the cooler, stiller air, when also the humming of insects 

 is more distinctly heard, and perchance some impurity 

 has begun to sink to earth strained by the air ! Or is 

 it, perchance, to be referred to the cooler, more clarified 

 and pensive state of the mind, when dews have begun 

 to descend in it and clarify it ? Chaste eve ! A certain 

 lateness in the sound, pleasing to hear, which releases 

 me from the obligation to return in any particular 

 season. I have passed the Rubicon of staying out. 1 

 have said to myself, that way is not homeward ; I will 



