Notes from Field and Study 



253 



The keeping of the record has been a 

 fine stimulus to careful observation, and 

 a source of pleasure in seeing and knowing 

 our wild bird callers. — Mr. and Mrs. 

 I. N. Mitchell, 2921 Cedar St., Mil- 

 ivaukec. 



A Discovery in Regard to the Towhee 



One day during the last week of May of 

 this year, mj^ attention was attracted by 

 the cry of little birds in the dense vines of 

 a honeysuckle on the front porch of a 

 country home near Knoxville, Tennessee. 

 I began looking for the father and mother 

 birds, which I knew must be somewhere 

 near-by. In a few minutes I discovered 

 them on the ground under a near-by tree, 

 scratching and hunting industriously for 

 food. Judging from their form and color, 

 they were strangers to me, so I made a 

 careful note of both. They were smaller 

 than a robin; their upper parts, throat and 

 upper breast, were black; underneath was 

 grayish white, with patches of rusty red, 

 •or chestnut on the sides, and on the wings 

 and rounded tail were patches of white. 



When I moved to get a nearer view of 

 them, they became panic-stricken, gave 

 up their search for food, and flew to a 

 bush nearby, with the cry 'Chewink! 

 Chewink!' 



I had never seen the Chewink, but knew 

 bis call. But these babies in the vines 

 surely could not be theirs, if they were 

 Chewinks, for all authorities on birds 

 which I had ever consulted distinctly 

 stated that Chewinks never built any- 

 where except on the ground in thickets or 

 blackberry patches. I then decided that 

 the hungery little nestlings in the honey- 

 suckle vines could not be theirs. I sat 

 perfectly quiet for a few minutes, and the 

 birds, after looking nervously around a 

 number of times, flew down to the ground, 

 secured the worms they had dropped, and 

 flew into the vines, whence issued loud 

 cries of joy. 



I watched these birds for several days, 

 and, in the meanwhile, consulted every 

 book and magazine I could find in 

 regard to them. The size, color, form and 



call, all declared them to be the Che- 

 wink, but the location of the nest contra- 

 dicted it. 



Besides the call 'Chewink!' the male 

 would often perch on the top of a low 

 cedar or shrub, and repeat again and 

 again 'Wink — pilla-willa, willa!' as the 

 mother bird fed the little ones. 



Another pair appeared, and built in 

 another honeysuckle vine near the rear of 

 the house. From a thicket, just a short 

 distance from these vines, came numberless 

 cries of 'Chewink! Towhee! Chewink!' 



I met the president of the East Ten- 

 nessee Audubon Society a few days after 

 this, and told him of these birds, giving 

 color and size, but omitting the nest, and 

 he immediatel}^ said that it must be the 

 Chewink; but when I told him where the 

 nest was, he was puzzled. A day or two 

 after this, he came out from town, through 

 the hot summer sun, to see if he could solve 

 the problem. Both nests were now de- 

 serted. After much work in trying to 

 penetrate the labyrinth of vines, he dis- 

 covered the nest and brought it forth. 

 It was a loosely thrown-together afl;air 

 of sticks, dry leaves and grass. It was 

 the Chewinks' nest, and proves that they 

 do not always build on the ground. 



At this countr}^ home where these birds 

 built, there were no children, cats or dogs, 

 to frighten birds, and the inmates of the 

 home were all lovers of birds; so this may 

 account for the selection of the location 

 of these nests. — -Nell Hampton Dick. 

 Knoxville, Tenn. 



A Chipping Sparrow Family 



On June 19, 1911, an interesting family 

 of Chipping Sparrows graduated from a 

 boxwood tree standing in a tub on our 

 front porch. 



It was some days after Mrs. Chippie's 

 first appearance there before she quite 

 decided to build. She would get into the 

 tree, fuss around a few minutes, then fly 

 away, occasionally bringing a hair or 

 bit of fuzz. After three or four days of 

 indecision, she went to work in earnest. 



When the nest was completed, she laid 



