192 BIRDS OF FIELD, FOREST AND PARK 



upon it quite by accident. The four or five eggs 

 are white, spotted with brown. They nest from 

 Virginia and Kansas northward to Manitoba 

 and Labrador and winter from Florida south- 

 ward. 



Water Thrush. While this bird bears the 

 name Thrush, it is a Warbler nevertheless. As 

 I had found them singly here and there in my 

 bird studies, I supposed them to be compara- 

 tively rare birds until last May when I found 

 them in Forest Park, New York City, so abun- 

 dant that for a time I could hardly believe it pos- 

 sible. In spring there are in the park a number 

 of hollows filled with water,' little lagoons which 

 are dry in midsummer. About these and the 

 marshes, Water Thrushes were in scores and 

 hundreds. But their stay was brief, and on 

 they went to their nesting grounds in the north. 

 This is a good-sized Warbler with rather long 

 legs, which tilts its tail like the Yellow Palm. 

 The upper parts are uniform olive-brown with 

 a buify line over the eye. The under parts are 

 white tinged with yellow, and everywhere 

 streaked with black. Male and female have the 

 same dress. 



The Water Thrush excels as a singer. When 

 I first heard it I was quite amazed at the vol- 

 ume and variety of its notes. Perched on a tree 

 above a babbling stream that rushes down 

 from the mountain side through alder thickets, it 

 sang a wild and varied, yet melodious lay. The 

 effect was marvelous, and to my sense, this 

 Warbler takes rank with the very best singers 

 of the family. 



