36o SINGING BIRDS. 



now and then a call upon its mate {tow-wee, tow-wee, toW' 

 weet), with which it is almost constantly associated. While 

 tfius busily engaged in foraging for subsistence, it may be 

 watched and approached without showing any alarm ; and 

 taking a look often at the observer, without suspicion, it 

 scratches up the leaves as before. This call of recognition is 

 uttered in a low and somewhat sad tone, and if not soon 

 answered it becomes louder and interrogatory, tow-wee towee ? 

 and terminates often with toweet. These birds are accused 

 of sometimes visiting the pea-fields to feed, but occasion no 

 sensible damage. 



In the pairing season and throughout the period of incuba- 

 tion the male frequently mounts to the top of some bush 

 amidst the thickets where he usually passes the time, and from 

 hence in a clear and sonorous voice chants forth his simple 

 guttural and monotonous notes for an hour or so at a time, 

 while his faithful mate is confined to her nest. This quaint 

 and somewhat pensive song often sounds like fsh'd wtte'e te te 

 te te te, or 'bid-wt tee, tr tr 'tr 'tr, — the latter part a sort of 

 quaint and deliberate quivering trill ; sometimes it sounds like 

 ^did tsherr ^rh ''rh, rrh ^wt, then ''fwee twee f tsher' ?-''?■, also 

 et se ya, ya ^ya 'ya 'ya 'ya ; the latter notes, attempted to be 

 expressed by whistled and contracted consonant syllables, are 

 trilled with this sound. 



Ground Robins, sometimes also called Tshe-xvijik and Pee- 

 wink, from another of their notes, are general inhabitants of 

 Canada and the United States even to the base of the Rocky 

 Mountains and the peninsula of Florida, in all of which regions, 

 except the last, with Louisiana and the contiguous countries, 

 they pass the summer and rear their young, migrating, how- 

 ever, from the Northern and Middle States in October, and 

 returning again about the middle or close of April, according 

 to the advancement 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 in the Union. 



They are said to show some address at times in concealing 



