Nest of the Chewink. Job. Barnard , Washington , D. 
C., writes us that he has found a nest of the Chewink on a 
small Cedar about one foot from the ground, and asks 
whether any of our readers have seen its nest otherwise 
than on the ground, in accordance with the authorities. 
Also if it is more disposed than other birds to abandon its 
nest if disturbed. O.&Q. IX. Aug. 1884. d. ftL( 
In reply to Mr. Barnard’s Bastion about the Chewink 
(September 0. and O., p. 104), I will say that with ns the 'fop. 
early nests are almost always upon the ground. I remem- 
ber finding one in a gooseberry bush about a foot up. .JurUi. ; 
at the second nesting they almost invariably buildin busies 
from two to seven feet from the ground. Q.SlQ* J.X.UCk.i.oO 1 *. 
Nest of the Chewink.. In answer to the inquiry of Mr. 
Barnard I have this summer, found two nests of the 
Chewink in bushes ; one in a crabapple bush, two feet from 
the ground, constructed of dried leaves and coarse grass 
I with a lining of fine grass, and containing, when discovered, 
three young birds. The other was made of the same kind 
of materials— in a brushy rose bush, one foot from the 
ground, and contained three white and red speckled eggs. 
I found both nests on the third day of August. Those 
I found early in the season, some five or six in number, were 
; all placed on the ground. I have not noticed that the 
Chewink abandons its nest more readily than other small 
birds, but I am careful not to disturb any of them.— Mrs. 
Margaret Mustek, Mount Carmel, Mo. 
O.&Q* IX, Oct. 1884. p. tz% 
Speaking of Chewink’s nests and their 
height from the ground, I can tell of one 
that lowers, or rather raises any record 
that I have seen, considerably. While 
strolling along the bottoms of a small q 
creek near Lake City, Minn., one day about 
the middle of last July, the path led my q 
two companions and me under a tangled 
mass of shrubbery caused by a grape vine H 
matting the tops of a number of oak sap- 2, 
lings together in a compact sort of leafy f 1 
table, which resembled pictures we have ® 
seen of the banyan tree, as much as any- ® 
thing I can recall to mind, with its flat top n* 
and many trunks. Suddenly a rustling ^ 
overhead attracted our attention and I, be- * 
ing in the advance, looked up just in time * 
to see a Chewink, (P. erythrophthalmus,) 
run over the leaves to the edge of the table 
and fly into the. wood. Wondering what 
the bird could be doing in this unusual 
situation, we determined to inspect the 
surroundings closely, at last discovering 
what appeared to be a nest, near the further 
end of the mass of foliage. I suggested 
“an old nest,” but my cousin, a boy of six- 
teen, who could be relied upon to detect a 
misplaced leaf in that locality, said, “No, 
there was nothing there a week ago.” This 
certainly demanded an investigation, but 
how ? The tops of the trees were certainly 
far out of our reach and would not bear 
one’s weight ; we dared not attempt to 
draw them down by means of the vine as 
that would certainly overturn the nest and 
contents, if it had any. Finally an acro- 
batic expedient was hit upon and by having 
my cousin stand upon my shoulders, he 
was just able to reach the nest and take 
from it a single Chewink’s egg, which was 
inspected and immediately returned. A 
week later the bird was on the nest, but 
the clutch of one had not been added to. 
An exact measurement proved the nest to 
be eleven feet four inches, (11 ft. 4 in), 
from the ground. It was a bulky affair, 
consisting of a foundation of oak leaves, 
which formed the greater part of the struc- 
ture, a lining made up of grape vine bark, 
and grass 
Nesting of Chewink or Towiiee Bunting, ( Pipilo ery - 
throphthalmu.% ). — As regards the experience of several 
given in late issues of O. & O., concerning the nesting of 
this interesting bird, I would add that such notes are not 
always applicable to every locality. Five or six years ago, 
I found a nest over six feet high, during the month of Au- 
gust, upon the broken limb of a Linden, surrounded by 
young branches. It contained three Hedged young, which 
left their nest upon my approach. 
In May, 1881, 1 found a nest containing two fresh eggs 
; about a foot from the ground within a crippled hawthorne 
bush, recent rains had flooded the ground for some time 
previous. Upon 'crossing the creek I found myself on a 
thickly wooded elevation where I found a nest upon the 
ground, surrounded by a thick cluster of Triostium per- 
foliatum. Within the n6st I found one egg with a half in- 
cubated dead embryo, outside the nest lay a fresh egg cold 
and wet, as was the whole nest — although the bird flew 
from it — the rains had been heavy, cold and long. 
In July I found within these same woods one nest about 
five feet from the ground in a bush, and two others a few _ 
rods distant upon the ground, one surrounded by a tuft of ^ 
grass, the other by a tall open wild Aster, the first held four ^ 
young fledglings, the others three and four each, all nearly ^ 
of the same age. — A. H. Mundt, Fairbury, III. 
IX»Dec.i884. p, /f/ 
