LOUISIANA WATERTHKUSH 499 



singing in a ringing voice that rose above the murmur of the falling 

 waters. Ghirp^ chirp^ chirp^ chirpy his song began boldly; then, as 

 though he were suddenly confused in his recitation, broke into a lisping 

 and incoherent garble impossible to paraphrase in human sounds. 

 Such is always the character of their song ; they have never learned the 

 end of it." And Dr. George M. Sutton (Todd, 1940) describes the 

 startling song as follows : 



Three distinctly repeated notes introduce this striliing volley, which is entirely 

 unlike the song of other warblers and much stronger and more prolonged than 

 that of the species' near relative, the Northern Waterthrush. It is delivered 

 either from the ground or from a tree, and sometimes even during flight. The 

 head of the singer is thrown well back, his whole body is shaken with energy, 

 and his usually restless tail is for the moment allowed to hang at an easy, down- 

 ward angle. * * * The evening flight song, as I have heard it in Greene 

 County, is a memorable performance. In the gathering dusk the singer himself 

 is not seen. The song seems to be dashing here and there. It sweeps downward 

 in jerking stages as the final measures decrease in volume. It is prolonged, and 

 the latter half is a repetition of tinkling notes that fade away to nothingness as 

 the bird plunges back into the darkness whence he came. 



Field marks. — The Louisiana waterthrush most closely resembles 

 the northern waterthrush, from which it can be distinguished by its 

 broad, white superciliary stripe and its whiter under parts with less 

 and duller streaking, its chin and throat being nearly immaculate. It 

 looks a little like its relative, the ovenbird, but the latter has an eye 

 ring and no stripe over the eye. 



Enemies. — This waterthrush is a frequent victim of the cowbird, 

 except in heavily wooded regions, where the cowbird is less likely to 

 penetrate. Dr. Friedmann (1929) lists 3 nests that contained 4 eggs 

 of the cowbird, 7 containing 3, and 45 other nests that held 1 or 2 eggs 

 of this parasite. Three or four eggs of the cowbird are likely to cause 

 the waterthrush to desert the nest. 



Harold S. Peters (1936) lists only one tick, Haemuphysalis leporis- 

 palustris Packard, as an external parasite. 



Winter. — Dr. Skutch contributes the following account : "In Cen- 

 tral America, the Louisiana waterthrush is a moderately abundant 

 fall and spring transient, but in most parts at best a rare winter 

 resident. During the southward migration, at least, it passes along 

 both sides of the Cordillera, but in greater numbers on the Caribbean 

 side, from late August well into October. As a winter resident, it 

 appears to be confined to the Caribbean lowlands in both Guate- 

 mala and Costa Rica. For the spring months, there are records for 

 the Caribbean lowlands and the central highlands, but apparently 

 none for lower elevations on the Pacific side — a gap which may some 

 day be filled. This, at least, is the story told by the few records before 

 me as I write; but it is likely that some modifications of statement 



