The Coming of the Birds 79 



way of holding himself and pointing his tail, 

 that he is closely akin to the little wrens and 

 their big cousin, the Carolina mocker, so 

 called, which does not mock at all. Of all 

 our April birds, I believe I love best the 

 chewink, or swamp-robin. To be sure, he 

 is no more a feature of April than of June, and 

 many are here all winter ; but when he scat- 

 ters the dead leaves and whistles his bi-syllabic 

 refrain with a vim that rouses an echo, or 

 mounts a bush and sings his few notes of real 

 music, we forget that summer is only on the 

 way, but not yet here. Of all our birds, I 

 always fancied this one was most set in his 

 singing, as he surely is in his ways ; but 

 Cheney tells us that this bird, like many 

 others, can extemporize finely when the spirit 

 moves him. For several successive days one 

 season a chewink gave me very interesting 

 exhibitions of the kind. He fairly revelled 

 in the new song, repeating it times without 

 number. Whether he stole it from the first 

 strain of * Rock of Ages' or it was stolen from 

 him or some of his family, is a question yet 

 to be decided." Now, the chewink is a bird 

 of character, and, above all things, dislikes 

 interference, and he sings for his own 



