It is entirely distinct from the clear sonorous cbe-wiak, consisting of a number of rather 

 monotonous, guttural notes which 1 am unable to describe. The common call-n6tes are 

 uttered by both male and female. As a rule the one calls and the other replies. These 

 sounds are so loud, mellow, sweet, and beautiful that we easily forget to expect a real 

 prolonged song. They seem to be particularly suggestive of romantic woodland beauty 

 when heard together with the musical E-o-lie of the Wood Thrush, which is frequently 

 the case in northern and southern Illinois and Missouri. 



For a nesting site the Ground Robin always selects a lonely spot in woods 

 seldom trodden by human feet. Late in May and early in June the nest is completed 

 in its northern habitat, while in south-western Missouri I have several times fou«d it 

 by the beginning of May. It is almost invariably built among very dense bushes, gener- 

 ally in a depression of the soil which was evidently scratched for this purpose by the 

 bird, and its rim is, in most cases, level with the ground. Occasionally when it is built 

 underneath a low growing bush it rests on the ground. I have found the structure on 

 the side of old stumps, on or under fallen logs, surrounded and overgrown with masses 

 of ferns, on and in brush heaps and among the shrubbery in fence corners. It is built 

 in such a way that the material used for its construction is in perfect harmony with 

 the old leaves and grasses surrounding it. The nest rests generally on a foundation of 

 old leaves on which are placed plant-stems, grape-vine bark, pine-needles, and fine root- 

 lets, and the cavity is lined with fine grasses. The shady retreats of the woods and 

 sometimes the midst of damp forests, among a rank growth of ferns and other plants, 

 are its favorite nesting places. It is said that the nest is sometimes built in bushes, but 

 I have never found it higher than about five inches, in which case it was situated in a 

 brush heap. It is almost always a bulky affair, but well constructed. 



The eggs, usually four, sometimes three and rarely five in number, have a 

 white ground-color, mostly with a faint shade of pink or bluish. They are marked or 

 speckled with light reddish-brown; on some eggs the markings are bold and sparsely 

 scattered, so that the eggs closely resemble those of the Cardinal or Cowbird, but as a 

 rule they have a faint pink flush so that they can be easily' distinguished from those of 

 the above named species. They average in size .95 X .72 of an inch. 



Whether the nest is in a brush heap, on the side of a stump, underneath an over- 

 hanging bush, or under the shelter of a rotten log overgrown with ferns, it is always 

 difficult to find, unless one by chance almost steps on it. When the rambler is looking 

 for it, without being familiar with the habits of the bird, the search is likely to be 

 without success, owing to the sagacity of the birds. If its domain is invaded by any 

 intruder, the watchful male utters its alarm note, when the female at once leaves the 

 nest and its neighborhood. Both reappear at some distance from it, uttering incessantly 

 their notes of distress. By these manoeuvres they draw the attention to the place, where 

 they are then hopping around, but they soon fly still farther away, repeating their trick 

 in another place. Sometimes they lead the intruder in this way quite a distance from 

 the nest, to which they then triumphantly return under the cover of low and dense 

 bushes. The birds are now very quiet, and while the nest hunter is still searching, the 

 female is probably quietly sitting on her nest. But if by chance the nest is discovered, 

 the anxiety and excitement of the birds becomes truly pitiable. Their lamenting and 



