43^ NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



its wings and darts like an arrow to the sheltering coverts of the forest, 

 the song echoing and dying away on the quiet evening air. This per- 

 formance of the Ovenbird is truly startling, and it is to be regretted that 

 it can not be oftener heard. 



Seiurus noveboracensis noveboracensis (Gmelin) 

 Water Thrush 



Plate 92 



Motacilla noveboracensis Gmelin. Syst. Nat. 1789. 1:958 

 Seiurus noveboracensis DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 78, fig. 106 

 Seiurus noveboracensis noveboracensis A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3 . 

 1910. p. 319. No. 675 



noveboracensis, new Lat.. of New York 



Description. Upper parts dark olive brown; a line over the eye, and 

 tinder parts yellowish white or light sulphur yellow heavily streaked with 

 blackish; sexes practically alike. Fall plumage: Like the spring. 



Length 5.5-6 inches; extent 8.5-9.5; wing 2.7-5.3; tail 2.25; bill .5. 



Distribution. Breeds from northern Ontario, northern Ungava and 

 Newfoundland southward to central Ontario, New York, northern New 

 England, and in the mountains south to West Virginia; winters from Mexico 

 to the West Indies, Colombia and British Guiana. In New York this 

 species is a common summer resident of the Adirondack district as well 

 as in the Catskills and many swamps in central and western New York, 

 especially Potter swamp in Ontario and Yates counties, Canandaigua 

 Inlet swamp, Urbana swamp near Prattsburg, Montezuma swamp, Oak 

 Orchard swamp and the swamp about Chautauqua Lake outlet. There 

 also can be no doubt that it breeds in many other localities which have 

 not been particularly studied by bird students familiar with this species. 

 It certainly is a common summer resident in several of the localities 

 mentioned as well as through the swamps of the Adirondacks and higher 

 Catskills. Throughout the State it is a fairly common or common transient 

 visitant, arriving from April 26 to May 7, average date in western New York 

 being April 29. the spring migration ending between May 21 and 29. In 

 the fall, southward movement begins from the 1st to the 19th of August; 



