JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



71 



Mr. Geo. A. Boardman, in his list of 

 the Birds of the St. Croix Valley, 

 mentions this bird as "common- 

 breeds." 



It is an early fall migrant, in fact 

 one of the earliest of our Warblers to 

 begin its southern movement. I find 

 the following dates of its appearance 

 on the Seguin Island Light in Capt. 

 Spinney's note -book. Sept. 19, 1893, 

 Aug. 28 and Sept. 7, 1895. Aug. 5, 

 1896. Aug. 10 and 19, 1898, and in Mr. 

 MorrelPs notes: "Aug. 1, Water 

 Thrushes are quite plenty along the 

 shores of the pond." I have seen it 

 in Kennebec county on Sep:. 25th, 

 while this last year the last bird 1 saw 

 in Somerset county was on Aug. 29th. 



It seems to be a fairly common 

 nester in those counties in the Cana- 

 dian fauna, though I have observed it 

 more common in Somerset during the 

 breeding season than in any other 

 county. It is usually seen in May 

 after its arrival about the shores of 

 ponds and streams feeding on the 

 ground, wagging its tail, a character- 

 istic which readily helps to distin- 

 guish it from the Ovenbird, though 

 occasionally it is seen some distance 

 from the water. It is a beautiful 

 singer. It has not the loud decided 

 notes of the Ovenbird, but is a more 

 musical vocalist. It utters its song at 

 frequent intervals, and once heard is 

 not soon forgotten. 



Mr. Fred B. Spaulding of Lancaster, 

 N. H., mentions this bird as nesting 

 in his locality. I quote the following 

 from our late fellow-member, Clar- 

 ence H. Morrell's note book. "May 

 28, 1893, found a Water Thrush's nest 

 with four eggs, which I left for more. 

 May 29, got the Water Thrush's nest 

 found yesterday. Nest was sunk in 

 under hollowed out side of an old 

 rotten stump, around which grew 

 several maple trees. The cavity was 

 hollowed out in under the stump, so 

 that the nest was completely covered 

 over. The nest was not very large 

 but quite a thick structure of moss 

 and leaves with a few weed -stalks. 

 The lining was moss and grass and 

 some red, hair-like moss-stems. The 

 bird was on the nest and sat closely, 

 not leaving the nest until 1 nearly 

 touched her, and she stayed in the 

 immediate vicinity as long as I was 

 there, part of the time on the ground 

 and part in the trees, always jilting 

 her tail at rapid intervals and utter- 



ing a sharp chirp. The nest was on a 

 narrow strip of land with a pond on 

 one side and the over-flowed marsh 

 on the other. The nest contained but 

 four eggs. Incubation fresh." This 

 nest, Mr. Morrell told me, on one of 

 our first trips up the pond, was the 

 only one he ever located, though it 

 was a fairl3^ common nester about the 

 pond. In June 1900, Mr. Morrell and 

 I made several trips up the pond near 

 his home in Pittsfield, and one of the 

 birds we particularly sought was the 

 Water Thrush. Several pairs were 

 seen- about the shores of the pond and 

 on the small islands in the pond. On 

 June 9th, while near the locality he 

 mentions finding the nest in '93, while 

 photo'ing nest of Parula, Ovenbird, 

 Redwinged Blackbird, Bronzed Grack- 

 le. Tree Swallows, and several others 

 I came upon a pair of anxious Water 

 Thrushes. Watching the birds I 

 thought to see them feed the young, 

 which I presumed they had. I watch- 

 ed a long time but the birds were 

 wary and had no idea of giving the 

 nest-site away, so I began a search 

 about the stumps and roots along the 

 shore of the pond. While looking 

 about the roots of a large rock maple 

 stump, I discovered a nest with four 

 young, evidently about two weeks 

 old. When the parent birds saw me 

 examining the nest they made a great 

 deal of fuss about it. The nest was well 

 concealed by being well hidden under 

 a root of the stump and well covered 

 over with weeds and ferns. It was 

 placed about two rods back from the 

 water's edge on dry ground. We got 

 a photo of the nest and young. Soon 

 after, I was looking about in a similar 

 place, not many rods from the first 

 nest, when I came across another nest 

 at the base of a small clump of hem- 

 locks, well concealed by the over- 

 hanging branches, and weed -stocks 

 that grew in abundance about the 

 clump of bushes. This nest too, con- 

 tained four young, seemingly not 

 more than a week old. Both these 

 nests were made up of very similar 

 material as that Mr. Morrell describ- 

 ed in his notes as above. 



The eggs are ususlly four in num- 

 ber, but sometimes five are laid, and 

 with us they are usually laid about 

 the last week in May. They are 

 creamy-white, speckled and spotted 

 with hazel and lilac, and cinnamon- 

 rufous, usually most heavily at the 



