148 NESTS AND EGGS OF BIBDS. 



83. THE WATER THRUSH. 



SEIURUS N^VIUS Baeddmrt. 



New York "Water-Thrush, "Wagtail or Water- Wagtail ; Worthem 

 Water-Thrush. 



In moderate latitudes this wagtail is confined In summer chiefly 

 to the United States eastward of the plains, but in British Am- 

 erica It extends clear across the arctic continent. Its breeding- 

 range, however, seems restricted to the colder half of the country, 

 say north of latitude 40°, except where mountains carry a more 

 northern aspect toward the south, as in the case of the Cats- 

 kills. 



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

 arctic localities, as Fort Yukon and La Pierre House. They 

 appear to have been built on the ground, and are composed 

 chiefly of moss, compactly matted and mixed with little sticks 

 and straws — in one instance with a large amount of disintegrat- 

 ing fibrous material circularly woven. . . . The nests are about 

 four inches across, by two-thirds as much deep." Previous to the 

 reception of these Alaskan examples (collected by Lockhart, Ken- 

 nicott, Dall, etc.), we were all at sea in regard to the nidification 

 of the species, for the accounts of the earlier standard authorities 

 inextricably confused this species with the following, so that they 

 were untrustworthy. Even now the accurate information extant is 

 meagre ; I do not think the whole series of Atlantic Club Bulle- 

 tins contains a word on the subject, yet the bird is not un- 

 common everywhere in the Canadian faunal district. 



In the History of North American Birds, it is stated that Dr. 

 Brewer once found its nest and eggs near Boston, and that on 

 June 8, Professor Verrill discovered its nest in a dense cedar 

 swamp near Norway, Me. "This was built in an excavation in 

 the side of a decayed, moss-covered log, the excavation itself 

 forming an arch over the nest in the manner of, yet different 

 from, that of the golden crowned. The nest itself was an ex- 

 ceedingly beautiful structure, four and a half inches in diameter, 



