SIURUS NyEVIUS : NEW YORK ACCENTOR. I57 



NEW YORK ACCENTOR; WATER THRUSH. 



SiURUs NyEvius (Bodd.) Coues. 



Chars. Above, dark olive-brawn, quite uniform over all the upper 

 parts, including the crown ; supraciliary line and entire under 

 parts whitish, or pale sulphury-yellow, without any buffy tinge, 

 thickly and sharply spotted with the color of the back, except on 

 the lower belly and under tail-coverts ; no markings on wings or 

 tail ; feet dark. Sexes alike, and young similar. Length, 5.50- 

 6.00 ; extent, 8.50 ; wing, 2.75 ; tail, 2.25 ; bill scarcely or not 0.50. 



Being a species of the widest distribution in Nortli 

 America, the Water Thrush is found in all suitable 

 situations in New England, where it is a summer resi- 

 dent, and more or less abundant according to cir- 

 cumstances in no way connected with geographical or 

 Faunal areas. Unlike the chorister at whose haunts 

 and habits we have just glanced, the Water Thrush 

 claims rightfully such name by its fondness for the 

 liquid element, being most at home in the swamp, 

 the bog, the tangled brake, whose recesses we cannot 

 penetrate without fatiguing exertion. It is probably 

 on account of such partiality that the bird is more 

 abundant in summer in the sphagnous swamps and 

 gloomy woods of northern New England than in other 

 parts of this country. When on its way to and from 

 such resorts, it may be found more at large about the 

 pools in any wet woodland, but it seldom if ever 

 nests except in the situations described. Upon the 

 ground or its equivalent is built a bulky nest of 

 mosses, especially the Hyfnum^ mixed with more or 

 fewer leaves and grasses, and lined with slender root- 

 lets ; the different colors of these materials sometimes 

 contrasting finely with each other and with the crys- 



