The Towhee Nesting in Bushes. — On June 12, 1906, I found in Cochi- 
tuate, a village of the town of Wayland, Mass., a nest built in a sapling 
white pine, at the top. This nest may have been three feet from the 
ground. The pine was within twenty feet or so of a submerged bog, but 
was on a dry strip of thin scrub-growth, very open, within a few feet of 
an open wood-road. The nest was a rather bulky one made of dry mis- 
cellaneous stuff, including dead weed stalks, and was lined entirely with 
soft dead grass. 
It contained two eggs; — palpably those of the Che wink or Towhee 
Bunting. I was unable to identify the nest and eggs by the presence of 
the owners, but Towhees were in the neighborhood, and there is no ques- 
tion in my mind as to the accuracy of identification. A few hours later, 
on the same day, I came to a similar nest, fully as bulky as a robin s, 
built in the first fork of a rather large red cedar on the edge of an open 
field bordered by a pine grove. Although shadowed by a taller pine, 
the cedar was practically in the open. The nest was not concealed by 
any foliage, but was as openly placed as the nest of a semi-domesticated 
robin in the low fork of a household apple tree. The nest contained four 
indubitable Towhees’ eggs, and was about 5£ feet from the ground. The 
parent Towhees soon came to the rescue and by their actions put identifi- 
cation beyond a shadow of question. This was also in Cochituate village, 
Wayland, Mass. 
Mr. Brewster regards this double experience as especially noteworthy 
in eastern Massachusetts. He believes that a few instances of bush- 
nesting by Towhees are on record as occurring in central Massachusetts. 
Personally, through a lifetime of bird experience (off and on) in eastern 
Massachusetts, I have never met with nor heard of a case of bush or tree- 
building by the Towhee there. With us of eastern Massachusetts the 
Towhee has ever been the closest kind of a ground-builder, so far as I 
know. — Fletcher Osgood, Chelsea, Mass. ~ 
AttJs, XX11 1, Oct., 1906, 
? /^j 3Pg/ 7 ?7?a if i jfc*— 7‘?7<u*s- 
Chewink ( Pipilo erythrophthalmus ). — This seems to be a rare winter 
resident and I can find no record for this State since 1904 when, on Decem- 
ber 4, at Smith’s Point, Manchester, a bird was seen by W. R. Peabody. 
On December 28, 29 and 30, 1909, I saw a handsome male bird at Edgar- 
town (Martha’s Vineyard), about two miles from the town. I was duck 
shooting and staying at our camp on the “Great Pond,” and observed this 
bird both from the building and from the stand. The end of the point 
where the camp is situated is covered with a thick growth of bushes and 
the Chewink seemed to be living in them. He was so tame that he 
scratched among the leaves almost at my feet, and even when I moved 
he did not appear to be greatly frightened. He also came close to the door 
in search of the food we threw out after meals. A family of rats were liv- 
ing under the building and several times I saw one of them searching 
among the leaves for this food, with the Chewink only a very few feet away 
engaged in the same occupation. The day I left the bird was still there and 
appeared to be in good condition. As far as I could see his only other 
feathered companions were a pair of Song Sparrows that spent their time 
in the same way scratching among the leaves in search of food. During 
these three days the weather was bitterly cold, the thermometer going to 
nearly zero every night, and considering the continued cold weather we 
had experienced since the first of December, and the blizzard the day after 
Christmas, the bird seemed to have chosen an extremely cold winter to 
stay north. Though I never heard him chirp, he showed no signs of mind- 
ing the cold, for when feeding he was very active on his feet. I never 
saw him fly or attempt to, but in such thick cover there was no occasion 
for it. Still, he may have had a bad wing which would account for his 
being north. It seems reasonable to believe that physical disability must 
play an important part in such cases as these. — S. Prescott Fay, 
Boston, Mass. AOk 37 , Apr-1910 p, 
