118 NOUTII AxMERICAN BIRDS. 



At Carson City, early in March, his attention \vt,s attracted by the peculiar 

 notes of this Pii)ilo ; tlie bird was sitting on a high rock above the thick 

 chaparial of tlie hillside, and sharply defined against the sky. It was readily 

 distinguishable })y tlie black of its head antl breast, in sharp contrast with 

 tlie pure white of its lower jiarts. Every few moments it would raise its head 

 to utter, in a short trill, its rude song. When approached, it would jerk 

 its exjjanded white-tipped tail, and disappear among the bushes. It was 

 abundant in the chaparrals, on the hillsides, and among the thickets and 

 Initlalo-berry bushes along the rivers. The males were in full song, perclniig, 

 as they sang, on a prominent rock or bush. 



Mr. Nuttall met witli a nest of this species on the 14th of June. It was 

 built in the shelter of a low undershrub, in a depression scratched out for its 

 reception. It was made of a ratlier copious lining of clean wiry grass, with 

 some dead leaves beneath, as a foundation. The eggs were four, nearly 

 hatched, very closely reseml)liug tliose of the Towhee, thickly spotted over, 

 but more so at the larger end, with very small round and very numerous 

 reddish-chocolate spots. The pair showed great solicitude about their nest, 

 the male, in particular, approaching boldly to scold and lament at the dan- 

 gerous intrusion. 



The Oregon Ground Robin Mr. Lord considered a quaint and restless 

 bird. He found it very abundant from the coast to the sunnnit of the Ilocky 

 Mountains, and also very common on Vancouver Island. It arrives the last 

 of April and first of May, and fre<pients dark woods and thick tangled 

 underbrush. He describes it as stealthy and shy, with a Labit of hiding, 

 but its cry usually betrays its place of concealment. This cry he states to 

 1)6 like the squall of the Catbird. 



Mr. Townsend found it abundant on the Coliunbia, where, as lie observed, 

 it lived mostly on the ground, or on bushes near the ground, rarely ascending 

 trees. Mr. Audubon gives the measui'ement of its egg as 1.12 inches in 

 length and .87 in breadth. 



The egg of this species is more rounded tlian are those of this genus gen- 

 erally, and theio is but little difference between the two ends. The ground- 

 color is white, with a greenisJi tinge, and is very generally and profusely 

 spotted witli fine markings of reddish and purplish-brown. They measure 

 .Oo by .80 of an inch. 



