36 o 
SINGING BIRDS. 
now and then a call upon its mate (^tow-wee, tow-wee, tow- 
weet), with which it is almost constantly associated. While 
thus 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 wttee te te 
te te te, or ’bid-un tec, tr tr 'fr 'tr, — the latter part a sort of 
quaint and deliberate quivering trill ; sometimes it sounds like 
’hid tsherr ' rh ’rh, rrh ’wt, then ’twee twee t tshed tr, 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-wink 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 I.ouisiana 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 
