CHEBEC. LEAST FLYCATCHER 



The diminutive olive-pated gray sprite. 



NELTJE BLANCHAN. Bird Neighbors. 5 



He is a fearless little warrior, snapping his bill ominously 



as he charges full tilt at his enemy in coat and 



habit a miniature of the phoebe and wood pewee, jerking 

 not only his tail but his whole body with his emphatic 

 call. 



FLORENCE A. MERRIAM. Birds Through an Opera Glass. 2 



Instead of the simple melody we might expect to hear 

 from this modest bird, he salutes us with a singularly 

 inappropriate, business-like chebec, chebec, varying the 

 performance by murderous sallies after passing insects. 

 In crescendo passages, he literally rises to the occasion, 

 and on trembling wings sings an absurd " chebec, tooral- 

 ooral, chebec, tooral-ooral, " with an earnestness deserving 

 better results. 



CHAPMAN. Handbook of Birds. 21 



CHEWINK. TOWHEE. GROUND ROBIN 



There is a vigorousness about the towhee's notes and 

 actions which suggests both a bustling, energetic disposition 

 and a good constitution. He entirely dominates the 

 thicket or bushy undergrowth in which he makes his home. 

 The dead leaves fly before his attack. His white-tipped 

 tail-feathers flash in the gloom of his haunts. He greets 



48 



