THE INVITATION. 248 



rhc other specimen was the Northern or small water* 

 thrush, cousin-german to the oven-bird and half- 

 brother to the Louisiana water-thrush or wagtail. I 

 found it at the head of a remote mountain lake among 

 the sources of the Delaware, where it evidently had 

 a nest. It usually breeds much farther North. It 

 has a strong, clear warble, which at once suggests 

 the song of its congener. I have not been able to 

 find any account of this particular species in the 

 books, though it seems to be well known. 



More recent writers and explorers have added to 

 Audubon's list over three hundred new species, the 

 greater number of which belong to the Northern and 

 Western parts of the Continent. Audubon's obser- 

 vations were confined mainly to the Atlantic and Gulf 

 States and the adjacent islands ; hence the Western 

 or Pacific birds were but little known to him, and are 

 only briefly mentioned in his works. 



It is, by the way, a little remarkable how many of 

 the Western birds seem merely duplicates of the East- 

 ern. Thus, the varied-thrush of the West is our 

 robin, a little differently marked ; and the red-shafted 

 wood-pecker is our golden-wing, or high-hole, colored 

 red instead of yellow. There is also a Western 

 chickadee, a Western chewink, a Western blue jay, 

 a Western meadow-lark, a Western snow-bird, a 

 Western bluebird, a Western song-sparrow, Western 

 ^jrouse, quail, hen-hawk, etc., etc. 



One of the most remarkable birds of the West 

 veems to be a species of skylark, met with on the 



