THE GROUND ROBIN. 3] 
Emberiza erythrophthalma, Gmelin. Syst. Nat., I. (1755) 874; Wils. Am. Orn., 
VI. (1812) 90. 
Pipillo erythrophthalmus, Vieillot. Gal. Ois., I. (1824) 109. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Upper parts generally, head and neck all round, and upper part of the breast, 
glossy black, abruptly defined against the pure white which extends to the anus, 
but is bounded on the sides and under the wings by light-chestnut; under coverts 
similar to sides, but paler; edges of outer six primaries with white at the base and 
on the middle of the outer web; inner two tertiaries also edged externally with 
white; tail feathers black; outer web of the first, with the ends of the first to the 
third white, decreasing from the exterior one. Female with the black replaced by 
brown; iris red. 
Length, eight and seventy-five one-hundredths inches; wing, three and seventy- 
five one-hundredths; tail, four and ten one-hundredths inches. 
This beautiful and well-known species, although common 
in Massachusetts and the other southern New-England 
States, is rare in the three northern. It begins to grow 
scarce in the northern districts of Massachusetts ; and, before 
we have passed fifty miles beyond its northern limits, it is 
very rarely seen. It makes its appearance about the 20th 
of April, the males preceding the females by a week or ten 
days. As soon as the females arrive, the pairing season 
commences. The male, perched on a low limb of a tree or 
high bush, chants his pleasing song, sometimes for half an 
hour at a time: this song resembles the syllables, tow-hée 
che de ’de’de’de, uttered at first slowly and plaintively, and 
quickly increased in volume and rapidity of utterance. He 
has also a sort of quavering warble difficult of description. 
If he is approached, he watches the intruder, and, after 
ascertaining his business, utters his note tow-hée, and pro- 
ceeds his search among the fallen leaves for his favorite food 
of worms, insects, and seeds, which he is almost continually 
scratching for among the dead vegetation. ‘ 
About the second week in May, the birds commence build- 
ing. The locality usually chosen is in low, thick woods, 
or in thickets of briers and bushes near streams of water, 
in which places this species is most often found. The nest 
is placed on the ground, usually beneath a bunch of grass, 
