The Birds’ Calendar 
the ground. Closely observed, its plumage is 
seen to be quite different from the robin’s, as 
the male is pure black above and on the throat, 
white beneath and on the outermost tail-feathers, 
and the sides chestnut. In figure and bearing, 
too, it is a finch, not a thrush; but popular 
names are commonly founded on the most 
superficial resemblances, as in the case of the 
red-winged blackbird, which is also called 
swamp robin. The name ‘ towhee’’ approx- 
imately represents the sound it frequently makes, 
as one finds it furtively hopping about in the 
undergrowth, picking over the dead leaves. 
No ornithologist would like to be called upon 
to give a satisfactory reason for all his opinions, 
but he would say decidedly that there are very 
different ways of skulking among the bushes ; 
the catbird’s way is suspicious—a semi-confes- 
sion that it is in mischief; the chewink’s way 
is only unobtrusiveness and modesty. The 
name chewink is another attempt to imitate its 
sound, but vowels and consonants are rarely 
heard with much distinctness in a bird’s notes, 
and considerable imagination must be exercised 
in giving them onomatopoetic names. 
Possessed of a rich and rather strong voice, 
the chewinks have two or three melodious 
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