238 GOLDEN-CROWNED THRUSH. 



GOLDEN-CROWNED THRUSH.* {Tardus aurooapillus.) 



PLATE XIV.— Fig. 2. 



Edw. 252.— Lath. iii. 21. — La Figuier a tete d'or, Briss. iii. 504. — La Grivelette 

 de St Domingue, Buff. iii. 317, PL enl. 398.— Arct. Zool. p. 339, No. 203.— 

 Turdus minimus, vertice aureo, The Least Golden-crown Thrush, Bartram, 

 p. 290.— Peale's Museum, No. 7122. 



SEIVRUS AUBOCAPILLUS—Swainsots. 

 Sylvia aurocapilla, Bonap. Synop. p. 77.— Seiiirus aurocapillus, North. Zool. ii. 227. 



Though the epithet golden-crowned is not very suitable for 

 this bird, that part of the head being rather of a brownish 

 orange, yet, to avoid confusion, I have retained it. 



This is also a migratory species, arriving in Pennsylvania 

 late in April, and leaving us again late in September. It is 

 altogether an inhabitant of the woods, runs along the ground 

 like a lark, and even along the horizontal branches, frequently 

 moving its tail in the manner of the wagtails. It has no 

 song ; but a shrill energetic twitter, formed by the rapid 

 reiteration of two notes, peche, peche, pec7ie, for a quarter of 

 a minute at a time. It builds a snug, somewhat singular 

 nest, on the ground, in the woods, generally on a declivity 



* This curious species, with the S. aquaticus of Plate XXIII., and 

 some others, differs materially in economy from the thrushes, notwith- 

 standing their general form and colours ; and, to judge from the account 

 of the manners of our present species given by Wilson, it will approach 

 very closely to Anthus and our A. arboreus, and in form and structure 

 to some of the warblers. The manners of S. aquaticus, again, resemble 

 more those of the wagtails ; but has somewhat of the true thrush in 

 perching high, and in possessing a sweet and pensive song. We have, 

 therefore, in shape, colour, and some of the habits, an alliance to the 

 thrushes, while the colours and their distribution agree both with 

 Merula and Anthus, and in their principal economy a combination of 

 the Sylviance and Motacillance, — altogether a most interesting form ; 

 while, in the structure of their nest, and the colour of the eggs, they 

 agree with the wrens. Mr Swainson has made from it his genus 

 Seiiirus. — Ed. 



