SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 219 
among the dry leaves on the ground. Like many other 
Sparrows, it scratches with both feet at once, jumping into 
the air and digging away the leaves with a quick motion of 
the feet, then brings its feet deftly under its body and lands 
on them. When disturbed it darts into a bush, with a whir 
Fig. 80. — Towhee, male, about one-half natural size. 
of wings, a flash of black, white, and chestnut, a quick flirt 
of its long tail, and, with crest slightly erected, sends back its 
call towhee’, or the more nasal cheewink’, or kriink’. Its song 
as commonly sung may be rendered dick’ you, fiddle-iddle, 
iddle, iddle, iddle. The first two notes are sometimes com- 
bined in a de‘ak, but whether dick or the deacon is addressed, 
he is adjured to fiddle. The last notes run into a trill. 
The Chewink rarely goes into the tree tops, though it 
often perches on the top of some small sapling while singing. 
Its food is obtained mainly from the ground, the shrubbery, 
and as high up the tree trunks as it can reach or jump. 
While scratching and digging among the leaves in early 
spring it unearths many dormant insects, and disposes of 
them ere they haye an opportunity to propagate their kind. 
