200 THE GRINNELL WATER-THRUSH. 



ly, as it Iiappened, as Sylvia vuicgillivrayi, by which specific name it was long 

 known to ornitiiologists. Macgihivray was a Scotch naturalist who ne\-er saw 

 America, but Tolmie was at that time a surgeon and later a factor of "the 

 Honorable the Hudson Bay Company," and he clearly deserves remembrance 

 at our hands for the friendly hospitality and cooperatirm which he invariably 

 extended to men of science. 



^ No. 80. 



GRINNELL'S WATER-THRUSH. 



A. O. U. No. 675 a. Seiunis noveboracensis notabilis Ridgw. 



Description. — Adults: Above sooty olive-brown, singularly uniform; below 

 white or tinged with pale yellow, everywhere (save on abdomen, centrally, under 

 tail-coverts and extreme chin) streaked with sooty olive, the streaks small and 

 wedge-shaped on throat, increasing in size posteriorly on breast, sides and flanks 

 (where nearly confluent on bufify ground) ; a superciliary stripe continuous to 

 nostril pale bulTy : a crescent-shaped mark of same shade on lower eyelid ; cheeks 

 and auricular region finely streaked with pale bufify and color of back. Bill dark 

 brown above, lighter below; feet pale; iris brown. Young birds are finely barred 

 with bufTy above and have two buffy wing-bars ; underparts heavily and indis- 

 tinctly streaked with dusky on pale yellow ground. Length 6.00 (152) or over; 

 wing 3.00 (76) : tail 2.T0 (53.3) ; bill .53 ( 13.5) : tarsus .85 (21.7). 



Recognition Marks. — Warbler size; plain brown above; white (or pale 

 yellow) heavily streaked with dusky below; a prominent buffy stripe over eye. 



Nesting. — Does not breed in Washington. Nest: on the ground or in roots 

 of upturned tree; of moss and leaves, lined with fine rootlets and tendrils. Eggs: 

 4 or 5, white or creamy white, speckled, spotted or wreathed with reddish browns. 

 Av. size, .80 X .60 (20.3 X 15.2). Season: May 20-June 10; one brood. 



General Range. — Western North America ; breeding from ^Minnesota, west- 

 ern Nebraska and the northern Rocky Mountains north to Alaska and Siberia 

 (East Cape) ; southward during migrations over Western States and Mississippi 

 Valley, less commonly thru Atlantic coast States, to West Indies, Mexico, Central 

 America and Colombia. 



Range in Washington. — Conjectural — should be not uncommon migrant. 



Authority.— .S". noveboracensis, Baird, Review Am. Birds, 1865, 215 ("Camp 

 Moogie, Washington"). 



Specimens. — P( Alaskan). Prov. 



WHILE we have only one record, and that an old one, there is every 

 reason to suppose that this species traverses our borders annually, since it 

 breeds in the middle mountain districts of British Columbia (Rhoads), is 

 abundant in Alaska (Nelson), and migrates southward thru the western 

 United States (Ridgway). The Water-thrush should be looked for in May 



