BIRDS OF THE CAMBRIDGE REGION. 349 



During migration the Oven-bird often appears in the shrubbery of our city 

 gardens, and in autumn we used to meet with it in the Maple Swamp. It 

 arrives from the south early in May and, as a rule, departs before the close of 

 September, although a few birds sometimes remain into October ; I have one 

 which I shot near the Watertown Arsenal on December 30, 1881. 



217. Seiurus noveboracensis (Gmel.). 

 Water-Thrush. Northern Water-Thrush. 



Abundant transient visitor in spring and autumn. 



SEASONAL OCCURRENCE. 



April 25, iSg6, one seen, Arlington, W. Fa.xon. 



May 8 — June i. 

 June 5, 1875, two seen, Belmont, W. Brewster. 



August I, 1896, one seen, Cambridge, W. Brewster. 



August 10 — October 10. 

 October 16, 1890, one taken, Fresh Pond Swamps, W. Faxon. 



The Water-Thrush is a regular and abundant visitor to the Cambridge 

 Region at its times of migration. The spring flight begins about May 8 and is 

 ordinarily at its height between the 12th and the 25th, declining towards the 

 close of the month, although a few birds sometimes linger nearly through the 

 first week of June. They begin to return from their summer homes at the 

 north soon after the first of August, performing the southward journey in so 

 leisurely a manner that we commonly have them with us up to the end of Sep- 

 tember and sometimes well into October. They never fail to visit our garden in 

 both spring and autumn, occurring there most numerously in August, when I 

 have known as many as si.x or seven to be present at one time. We meet with 

 them oftenest and most abundantly, however, in dense thickets covering swampy 

 or, at least, very low and damp ground, usually not far from water. In the 

 Fresh Pond Swamps and along the willow-shaded causeway that crosses Rock 

 Meadow they sometimes literally swarm for days in succession at the height of 

 the spring migration. The loud, rapid, musical songs of the males may then be 

 heard coming from several directions at once, and the birds be seen darting from 

 thicket to thicket or walking demurely about the edges of shallow pools, tilting 

 their tails incessantly. In autumn they are much less conspicuous, partly 

 because they are then more widely dispersed and nearly silent, but largely, also, 

 because of the greater density of the vegetation at that season. 



