The call-note of this bird is very peculiar, and is variously interpreted in different localities. It has always appeared to me that the Georgian jo-rēēt was at least as near to its real notes as tow-hēē. Its song consists of a few simple notes, which very few realize are those of this bird. In singing, the male is usually to be seen on the top of some low tree. These notes are uttered in a loud voice, and are not unmusical. Wilson says its song resembles that of the Yellow-Hammer of Europe, but is more varied and mellow. Nuttall speaks of its notes as simple, guttural, and monotonous, and of its voice as clear and sonorous. The song, which he speaks of as quaint and somewhat pensive, he describes as sounding like t’sh’d-wĭtee-tĕ-tĕ-tĕ-tĕ-tĕ.
Wilson says this bird is known in Pennsylvania as the “Swamp Robin.” If so, this is a misnomer. In New England it has no predilection for low or moist ground; and I have never found it in such situations. Its favorite haunts are dry uplands, near the edges of woods, or high tracts covered with a low brushwood, selecting for nesting-places the outer skirts of a wood, especially one of a southern aspect. The nest is sunk in a depression in the ground, the upper edges being usually just level with the ground. It is largely composed of dry leaves and coarse stems as a base, within which is built a firmer nest of dry bents well arranged, usually with no other lining. It is generally partially concealed by leaves or a tuft of grass, and is not easily discovered unless the female is seen about it.
Dr. Coues says these Buntings are chiefly spring and autumnal visitants near Washington, only a few breeding. They are very abundant from April 25 to May 10, and from the first to the third week of October, and are partially gregarious. Their migrations are made by day, and are usually in small companies in the fall, but singly in the spring. Wilson found them in the middle districts of Virginia, and from thence south to Florida, during the months of January, February, and March. Their usual food is obtained among the dry leaves, though they also feed on hard seeds and gravel. They are not known to commit any depredations upon harvests. They may be
easily accustomed to confinement, and in a few days will become quite tame. When slightly wounded and captured, they at first make a sturdy resistance, and bite quite severely. They are much attached to their young, and when approached evince great anxiety, the female thrusting herself forward to divert attention by her outcries and her simulated lameness.
The eggs of this species are of a rounded-oval shape, and have a dull-white ground, spotted with dots and blotches of a wine-colored brown. These usually are larger than in the other species, and are mostly congregated about the larger end, and measure .98 of an inch in length by .80 in breadth.
Pipilo erythrophthalmus, var. alleni, Coues.
WHITE-EYED CHEWINK; FLORIDA CHEWINK.
Pipilo alleni, Coues, American Naturalist, V, Aug. 1871, 366.
Sp. Char. Similar to erythrophthalmus, but differing in the following respects: White spaces on wings and tail much restricted, those on inner webs of lateral tail-feathers only .50 to .75 long. Size very much smaller, except the bill, which is absolutely larger. Iris white.
♂. (55,267, Dummits’s Grove, Florida, March, 1869.) Length, 7.75; wing, 3.00; tail, 3.75; bill from nostril, .38; tarsus, .97.