chewink

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   an eastern towhee, a large New World sparrow with reddish sides and, in the male, black upperparts

   A chewink scratched noisily among the dry leaves beneath the shrubs.

An American imitative bird name, also spelled cheewink, representing one of the eastern towhee's sharp two-part calls. The related name towhee likewise imitates the bird's voice. Chewink was common in nineteenth-century nature writing but has largely yielded to eastern towhee in modern ornithology.

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