SP. CHAR. Tail slightly emarginate. Above light olive-brown, with a scarcely perceptible shade of reddish, passing, however, into decided rufous on the rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail, and to a less degree on the outer surface of the wings. Beneath white, with a scarcely appreciable shade of pale buff across the fore part of the breast, and sometimes on the throat; the sides of the throat and the fore part of the breast with rather sharply defined subtriangular spots of dark olive-brown; the sides of the breast with paler and less distinct spots of the same. Sides of the body under the wings of a paler shade than the back. A whitish ring round the eye; ear-coverts very obscurely streaked with paler. Length, 7.50 inches; wing, 3.84; tail, 3.25; tarsus, 1.16; No. 2,092. HAB. Eastern North America. Mexico? Not found in Cuba, _fide_ GUNDLACH. In spring the olive above is very much that of eastern specimens of _swainsoni_; in winter specimens it is much browner, and almost as much so as in _fuscescens_. Young birds have the feathers of the head, back, and wing coverts streaked centrally with drop-shaped spots of rusty yellowish. HABITS. Until quite recently the “Ground Swamp Robin,” or Hermit Thrush, has not been distinguished from the closely allied species _T. swainsoni_, and all accounts of writers have blended both in singular confusion. My colleague, Professor Baird, in the summer of 1844, was the first to suggest the distinctness of the two species. By the common people of Maine and the British Provinces this difference has long been generally recognized, this species being known as the “Ground Swamp Robin,” and the other as the “Swamp Robin.” The present species is found throughout Eastern North America to the Mississippi, and breeds from Massachusetts to high arctic regions. It is only occasionally found breeding so far south as Massachusetts; through which State it passes in its spring migrations, sometimes as early as the 10th of April; usually reaching Calais, Maine, by the 15th of the same month. It is a very abundant bird throughout Maine, where it begins to breed during the last week of May, and where it also probably has two broods in a season. The greater number appear to pass the winter in the Southern States; it being common in Florida, and even occasionally seen during that season as far north as latitude 38° in Southern Illinois, according to Mr. Ridgway. It rarely, if ever, sings during its migrations; appears in small straggling companies, frequents both thickets and open fields, and is unsuspicious and easily approached. The song of this species is very fine, having many of the characteristics of that of the Wood Thrush (_T. mustelinus_). It is as sweet, has the same tinkling sounds, as of a bell, but is neither so powerful nor so prolonged, and rises more rapidly in its intonations. It begins with low, sweet notes, and ends abruptly with its highest, sharp ringing notes.