288 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



parently distinct Seiurns, now known as tlie. Louisiana Water Thrush. This 

 bird lias a very close resemblance to the novehoracensis, differing chiefly in 

 size and in having a larger bill. Although its distribution is not yet fully 

 determined, it seems to belong rather to the South and Southwestern States, 

 and only accidentally to be found north of the Middle States. Still a single 

 specimen has been obtained in Massachusetts, and it has been several times 

 found in Michigan and Slissouri. Specimens of this bird have also been 

 procured in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Tamaulijjas, Mexico, Cuba, Jamaica, and 

 Guatemala. 



Its recognition as a distinct species from the common Water Tln-ush is 

 so recent, and the two species so closely resemble each otlier, that as yet its 

 habits and history are imperfectly known. Wilson refers to the birds he 

 had met with in ilississippi and Louisiana, which we presume to have been 

 tlie same, as being there in abundance, and eminently distinguished by the 

 loudness, sweetness, and expressive vivacity of tlieir notes. These he de- 

 scribes as beginning very high and clear, and as falling with an almost imper- 

 ceptil)le gradation until tliey are scarcely articulated, — a description tliat 

 would also answer very well for the song of the true Water Thrusli. During 

 their song, he adds, they are perched on the middle branches of a tree over 

 the brook or river-bank, pouring out a charming melody, so loud and distinct 

 that it may be heard at the distance of nearly half a mile. The voice of this 

 bird appeared to him so exquisitely sweet and expressive that he was never 

 tired of listening to it. 



It is also quite probable that nearly all of Audubon's accounts of the habits 

 of the Water Thrush were derived from his observation of this species, and 

 not of its Northern congener. He describes its song as fully equal to that 

 of the Nightingale, its notes as powerful and mellow, and at times as varied. 

 He states tliat it is to be found at all seasons in the deepest and most swampy 

 of the canebrakes of Mississippi and Louisiana. Its song is to be heard even 

 in the winter, when the weather is calm and warm. 



He describes its flight as easy and continued, just above the brakes, or 

 close to the ground. When on the ground, it is continually vibrating its 

 body, jerking out its tail and then closing it again. It walks gracefully along 

 the branches or on the ground, but never hops. He states that it feeds on 

 insects and their larvae, and often pursues the former on the wing. 



He describes the nest as placed at tlie foot and among the roots of a tree, 

 or bj^ the side of a decayed log, and says they are often easily discovered. 

 They are commenced the first week of April. The outer portions are formed 

 of dry leaves and mosses, the inner of fine grasses, with a few hairs or the 

 dry fibres of the Spanish moss. 



The eggs, four in number, are described as flesh-colnred, sprinkled with 

 dark red at the larger end. They are hatched in fourteen days. The young 

 leave the nest in about ten days, and follow the parent on the ground from 

 place to place. When disturbed on her nest in the earlier periods of incu- 



