72 SEIURUS LUDOVICIANUS, LARGE-BILLED WATER THRUSH. 



Several nests with eggs are in the Smithsonian, from various arctic 

 localities, as Fort Yukon and La Pierre House. They appear to have 

 beeu built on the ground, and are composed chiefly of moss, compactly 

 matted and mixed with little sticks and straws — in oue instance with a 

 large amount of disintegrating fibrous material, circularly woven. The 

 eggs, four or five in number, measure from 0.75 by 0.58 to 0.82 by O.GO; 

 they are pure w^hite, probably with a rosy blush when fresh, speckled 

 all over, but most thickly at and around the larger eud, with various 

 shades of reddish and darker browu, with lilac or lavender. In some 

 the markings are all in fine dots ; in others they constitute larger spots, 

 often confluent in a wreath. The nests are about four inches across 

 by two-thirds as much in depth. 



SEIUEUS LUDOVICIANUS, (And.) Bd. 



large-billed Water Thrush. 



(?) Turdus motacilla, Vieill., Ois. Am. Sept. ii, 1807, 9, pi. 65 (almost certainly). 



Seiurus motacilla, Bp., Consp. Av., i, 1850, BOG (quotes Vieill. aud queries AUD.). 



Henkocichla motacilla, Cab., J. f. O. 1857, 240 (Cuba). — Guxdl., ibid. 18G1, 326. 



Turdus ludovicianus, Aud., O. B. i, 1832, 99, pi. 19. (lu Syn., unites it with noveboracensia.) 



Seiurus ludovicianus, Bp., List, 1838.— Bd., B. N. A. 1858, 262, pi. 80, iig. 2.— ScL., P. Z. S. 

 1859, 363(Xalapa); 1859, 373 (Oaxaca); 1861, 70 (Jamaica).— Scl. & Salv., 

 Ibis, ii, 1860, 273 (Guatemala).— Bd., Rev. 1804, 217 (Colima, &c.).— Coues & 

 PuENT., Smiths. Rep. 1861, 407 (Wasliiugtoii, common April aud May). — Lawp.., 

 Ann. Lye. viii, 1868, 284 (New York) ; ix, 1868, 94 (Costa Rica).— Salv., P. Z. 

 S. 1870, 181.— Coues, Pr. Ess. Inst, v, 1868, 271 (probably in Southern New 

 England). — Coues, Pr. Bost. Soc. xii, 186S, 110 (South Carolina). — Allen, Am. 

 Nat. iii, 1869, 577 (Massachusetts, two instances). — Tukxb., B. E. Pa. 1839, 17 

 ■("not rare"). — Sxow, B. Kaus.— Scott, Pr. Bost. Soc. 1872 (West Virginia). — 

 Coues, Key, 1872, 106, pi. 2, fig. 8). 



Henicocichla ludoviciana, Scl., Cat. 1862, 25 (Orizaba). 



Henicocichla major, Cab., Mus. Hein. i, 1850, 16 (Xalapa). 



Hah. — Eastern United States. North to Massachusetts (Allen) and Michigan (Baird). 

 West to Kansas (Snou^) and the Wachita River {Clark). Cnba aud Jamaica. Various 

 Mexican localities. Guatemala. 



I still endorse the specific validity of tliis bird, having seen no specimens I could not 

 at once distinguish from novel)oracensis. Mr. Allen seems to incline to the contrary view. 

 Audubon, plate 19 of the folio edition, represents it unmistakably, and his letter-press 

 seems to be based chiefly upon it, but in the Synopsis, and in tlic octavo reprint, ho 

 unites the synonymy, description aud biography of the two species. Vieillot's figure 

 aud description point here so unmistakably, that it may be found necessary to call the 

 species Seiurtis motacilla. 



For the appearance of this species in the present connection, we have 

 the authority of Prof. Snow, who found it in Kansas, and marks it in 

 his list as breeding there. Dr. Cooper obtained a specimen in Missouri. 

 I have myself only met with it in the District of Columbia, where, with 

 Dr. Prentiss, I found it to be not a.t all uncommon. We gave the follow- 

 ing note: "From the 20th of April to the 10th of May, it may always 

 be obtained, by an acute collector, in the dense laurel brakes which 

 border the banks of, aud fill the ravines leading into. Pock Creek and 

 Piney Branch. We think we have seen it in June, which would prove 

 it to breed here, as is, indeed, very probable. We have not detected it 

 in the fall. It 'is usnally very shy, darting at once into the most impen- 

 etrable brakes, but we have sometimes seen it quite the reverse, and 

 have shot a pair, one after the other, as they sat in full view before us, 

 unconcernedly wagging their tails. We have nearly always found it in 

 j)airs, even as early as April 20th. Its note is a sparrow-like chirp, like 

 that made by striking two pebbles together, but it has also a loud, most 

 beautiful and melodious song, the singularity of which first drew our 

 attention to it." 



