632 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



near relative novehoracensis, but our observations on the bird in Michigan 

 are so few that we can add nothing definite on this point. 



TECHNICAL DESCKII'TION. 



Very similar to the Suiall-billed Water-thrush, but somewhat larger, the upper parts 

 darker brown, the line over the eye whiter, and the lower parts less distinctly yellow. 

 Sexes alike. 



Length 5.50 tu 6.50 inches; wing 2.90 to 3.25; tail 2.10 to 2.50; culnicn .44 to .50. 



289. Large-billed Water-thrush. Seiurus motacilla (VicilL). (676) 



Synonyms: Louisiana Water-thrush, Southern Water-thrush, Wag-tail, Water Wag- 

 tail. — T Urdus motacilla, Vieill., 1807.^ — Seiurus ludovicianus of the older ornithologists, 

 1838-1880.— Siurus motacilla, Coues, 1877. 



Similar to the two preceding, but larger than either; lighter brown above 

 and buffy white below with no sulphur yellow tinge; the streaks on breast 

 and sides broad and brown; throat without spots or streaks; stripe over 

 the eye pure white. 



Distribution. — Eastern United States, north to southern New England 

 and southern ]\Iichigan, casually north to Lake George, northeastern 

 New York, west to the Plains. In winter West Indies, southern Mexico, 

 and Central America to Panama. 



This is the common Water-thrush of southern Michigan and the only 

 one thus far positively known to nest in the state. It is a summer resident 

 of at least the southern third of the state, but so far as we can learn there 

 is no record of its occurrence north of Montcalm county. As explained 

 in connection with the Small-billed Water-thrush these two species have 

 been badly confused by observers and there is much incertainty about 

 some of the notes, but we have never seen a specimen from any point 

 north of the Saginaw Grand Valley, and it is significant that no specimens 

 of this species have ever been received from Spectacle Reef Light, where 

 so many thousands of migrants have been killed, and from which place 

 specimens were sent to Washington for more than a dozen years. 



It is fairly common at Port Huron, Lansing, Grand Rapids, and all 

 territory south of these points, arriving from the south almost invariably 

 in April, not infrequently before the middle of the month. At Agri- 

 cultural College, Ingham county, Mr. Hankinson recorded the first on 

 April 12, 1896 and April 22, 1897, while at Detroit Mr. Swales gives its 

 time of arrival as April 20 and May 1. At Ann Arbor Mr. Norman A. 

 Wood gives the earliest arrival in spring as April 22, 1883, and the average 

 as May 7, but we feel sure that the species as a rule arrives much earlier 

 than these records would indicate, especially as the average date of arrival 

 for the Small-billed Water-thrush is given as May 10. In our own ex- 

 perience in Ingham county, covering seventeen years, we have found 

 the Large-billed Water-thrush to precede the Small-bill by at least ten 

 days on the average. 



This bird frequents very wet ground always, but is by no means confined 

 to running streams, since it is a regular inhabitant of more or less stagnant 

 swamps, and is not infrequently found in bushy marshes at some httle 

 distance from large woods. It usually nests among the upturned roots 

 of a prostrate tree, but also hides its nest under the edge of a fallen log 

 or in the sloping bank of a small stream, or even among the tangled roots 



