GROUND ROBIN, OR TOWWEE FINCH. 517 



like 'bid tslierr Wh Wh, rrh 'wt, then 't'wee twee f fsher' 

 r'r, also et se t/a, ya 'ya 'ya 'ya 'ya, the latter notes, at- 

 tempted to be expressed by whistled and contracted con- 

 sonant syllables, are trilled with this sound. 



The Ground Robin, sometimes also called Tshe-wink 

 and Pee-wink from another of its notes, is a general in- 

 habitant of Canada and the United States, even to the 

 base of the Rocky Mountains, and the peninsula of Flori- 

 da, in all of which regions, except the last, with Louisia- 

 na and the contiguous countries, they pass the summer 

 and rear their young, migrating, however, from the North- 

 ern and Middle States in October, and returninor a^ain 

 about the middle or close of April, according to the ad- 

 vancement of the season, at which time, also, the males 

 usually precede the arrival of their mates. They pass 

 the winter generally to the south of Pennsylvania, and are 

 then very abundant in all the milder states of the 

 Union. 



They are said to show some address at times in conceal- 

 ing their nest, which is fixed on the ground, in a dry and 

 elevated situation, and sunk beneath the surface amonor 

 the fallen leaves, sometimes under the shelter of a small 

 bush, thicket, or briar. According to the convenience 

 of the site, it is formed of different materials, sometimes, 

 according to Wilson, being made of leaves, strips of grape- 

 vine bark, lined with fine stalks of dry grass, and occa- 

 sionally in part hidden with hay or herbage. Most of 

 the nests in this vicinity are made in solitary dry pine 

 woods, without any other protection than some small bush, 

 or accidental fallen leaves ; and the external materials, 

 rather substantial, are usually slightly agglutinated strips 

 of red-cedar bark, or withered grass with a neat lining of 

 the same and fallen pine leaves ; the lining sometimes 

 made wholly of the latter. The nest is also at times ele- 

 44 



