BIRCH BROWSINGS. 203 



to be the small, or Northern, water-thrush (culled also 

 the New York water-thrush) — a new bird to me. 

 In size it was noticeably smaller than the large, or 

 Louisiana, water-thrush, as described by Audubon, 

 but in other respects its general a[)pearance was the 

 same. It was a great treat to me, and again 1 felt 

 myself in luck. 



This bird was unknown to the older ornithologists 

 and is but poorly described by the new. It builds a 

 mossy nest on the ground, or under the edge of a de- 

 cayed Jog. A correspondent writes me that he has 

 found it breeding on the mountains in Pennsylvania. 

 The large-billed water-thrush is much the superior 

 songster, but the present species has a very bright 

 and cheerful strain. The specimen I saw, contrary 

 to the habits of the family, kept in the tree-tops like 

 a warbler, and seemed to be engaged in catching in- 

 sects. 



The birds were unusually plentiful and noisy about 

 the head of this lake; robins, blue jays, and wood- 

 peckers greeted me with their familiar notes. The 

 blue jays found an owl or some wild animal a short 

 iistance above me, and, as is their custom on such 

 ijccasions, proclaimed it at the top of their voices, 

 and kept on till the darkness began to gather in the 

 woods. 



I also heard here, as I had at two or three other 

 poii *s in the course of *he day, the peculiar, resonant 

 hammering of some species of woodpecker upon the 

 4ard, dry limbs. It was unlike any sound of the kinr^ 



