1870. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



437 



indeed through the greater part of the sum- 

 mer, the song of the male is heard in the 

 •woods, pastures and gardens at early morning, 

 and sometimes through the day ; and, although 

 most persons describe it as being harsh and 

 uncouth, it is really very pleasing and molodi- 

 ous. It is a sort of medley, like that of the 

 Brown Thrush, but not near so loud ; the 

 bird usually perches on a low tree, where, 

 standing nearly erect, his wings slightly ex- 

 panded, and his tail spread beneath him, he 

 pours forth his notes sometimes for half an 

 hour at a time. In addition to this song, he, 

 in common with the female, has a plaintive 

 note almost exactly like the mewing of a car, ; 

 and the speciBc name of felivox, given it by 

 some authors, is much more descriptive and 

 appropriate than that of Carolinensis, which 

 is neither descriptive nor proper. 



The alarm-note is a rattling cry, like the 

 sound of quick breaking of several strong 

 sticks; it is perhaps well expressed by the 

 syllables irat-tat tat tat, uttered very quickly. 

 I have noticed that this bird, as do many 

 others, prefers the neighborhood of thickly 

 settled districts, even a home in their midst, 

 to others of a wilder character ; and, when 

 travelling through the deep forests, I have in- 

 varibly found, that, when these birds became 

 abundant, a settlement was near. 



Soon after mating, the birds build : this 

 is from about the 20th of May to the first 

 week in June. The nest is usually placed in 

 bushes and shrubs, seldom more than four or 

 five feet from the ground ; the location is 

 often in the deep woods as in the fields or pas- 

 tures. It is constructed first of a layer of 

 twigs and sticks, on which is built the body 

 of the nest, which is composed of strips of 

 grape-vine bark, fine twigs, leaves, and straws ; 

 it is deeply hollowed, and lined with fibrous 

 roots and hairs, and sometimes fine grass. 

 The eggs are usually four in number, some- 

 times five : their color is a bright, deep emer- 

 ald green, and their form generally ovate. 

 Specimens do not exhibit great variations in 

 measurement from the dimensions of a nest 

 complement of four collected in Thornton, 

 N. H., they are as follows: .95 by 67 inch; 

 .95 by .66 inch; .93 by .67 inch; .93 by .66 

 inch. Two broods are reared in the season, 

 seldom three in this latitude. 



About the middle of October, this species 

 moves in its Southern migration. 



Mr. Samuels' account of the Chewink is as fol- 

 lows : — 



This beautiful and well-known species, 

 although common in Massachusetts and the 

 other southern New England States, is rare in 

 the three northern. It begins to grow scarce 

 in the northern districts of Massachusetts ; 

 and, before we have passed fifty miles beyond 

 its northern limits, it is very rarely seen. It 

 makes its appearance about the 20th of April, 

 the males preceiling the females by a week or 



ten days. As soon as the females arrive, the 

 pairing season commences. The male perched 

 on a low limb of a tree or high bu>-h, chants 

 his pleasing song, sometimes for half an hour 

 at a time : this song resembles the s}llables, 

 tow-hee ^che ^de ^de 'rfe ^de, uttered at first 

 slowly and plaintively, and quickly increased 

 in volume and rapidity of 'utterance. He has 

 also a sort of quavering warble difficult of de- 

 scription If he is approachf^d, he watches 

 the intruder, and, after ascertaining his busi- 

 ness, utters his note tow-hee, and proceeds his 

 search among the fallen leaves for his favorite 

 food of worms, insects, and seeds, which he is 

 almost continually scratching for among the 

 dead vegetation. 



About the second week in May, the birds 

 commence building. The locality usually 

 chosen is in low, thick woods, oi in thickets of 

 briers and bushes near streams of water, in 

 which places this species is most often found. 

 The nest is placed on the ground, usually loe- 

 neath a bunch of grass, or in a pile of old brush 

 and fagots ; it is constructed of fine twigs, 

 leaves and grasses, and is lined with tine 

 leaves of grasses, and sometimes a few hair- 

 like roots. 



The eggs are usually four in number. 

 Their ground color varies from grayish to 

 reddish-white : this is covered, over the en- 

 tire surface with fine dots and points of red- 

 reddish-brown : in some specimens these 

 dots run into each other, and form small 

 blotches. The average dimensions of a great 

 number of specimens in my collection is about 

 .94 by .76 inch. When placed beside an equal 

 number of the eggs of the Brown Thrush, the 

 eggs of this species appear much paler, and 

 with a more roseate tmt ; otherwise, except 

 with regard to size, the two species resemble 

 each other much. 



In New England but one brood is usually 

 reared in the season. I have found nests 

 with young in June and August, but generally 

 the first brood leaves the nest too late for 

 another to be brougtit out before the early 

 frosts. About the middle of October, the 

 old birds and their young, in small detached 

 flocks, leave New England on their southern 

 migration. 



Wheat Turned to Chess — A writer to 

 the Dixie Farmer vouches that a person in his 

 neighborhood has exhibited this season, wheat 

 and chess growng from the same root. The 

 bunch or stool on exhibition was carefully 

 taken up, and all the soil washed from the 

 roots, so as to give every one that examines, 

 the opportunity of judging for himself. The 

 stool, or bunch, consists of six stalks — three 

 of them wheat, and three chess — all of them 

 tolerably well-developed. No one that has 

 seen this stool, or those exhibited by the same 

 friend last summer, has a remaining doubt ot 

 the assertion that, under certain circumstan- 

 ces, wheat frequently turns to chess. 



