376 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



Nest, on tlie ground, composed of twigs, moss and leaves, and lined with 

 tine grass and the fur of some quadruped. 



Eggs, four or five, white, tinged with rose color and liglitly marked with 

 reddish-brown, chestniit or lilac gray. 



Southern Ontario is perhaps the northern limit of this species, 

 and even here it is not generally distributed. My first acquaintance 

 with it was made early on a bright May morning, a good many 

 years ago. I had gone out under the mountain, west of Hamilton, 

 and was crossing a deep ravine, which there cut through the escarp- 

 ment, when I heard farther up the glen the clear, rich, liquid notes 

 of a bird that was then entirely new to me. Following with 

 some difficulty the course of the stream, M'hich was heard trickling 

 beneath the moss-grown rocks at the bottom of the ravine, I came, 

 at length, in sight of the musician. He was on the prostrate trunk 

 of a tree, which, years before, had fallen and bridged over the chasm, 

 and was then moss-grown and going to decay. On this carpeted plat- 

 form the bird moved about with mincing steps, often turning around 

 with a jerk of the tail, and uttering his characteristic notes with 

 •such energy that, for a time, the whole ravine seemed filled with the 

 sound. I have seen the species many times since then, but the 

 recollection of our first meeting has lingered long in my memory, and 

 this particular bird still occupies a prominent place in my collection. 



The Large-billed, or Louisiana Water-thrush, as it is now called, 

 is by no means so common a bird in Ontario as the preceding species, 

 but along the southern border of the Province, wherever there is a 

 rocky ravine, its loud, clear notes are almost sure to be heard in the 

 spring, mingling with the sound of the falling water. It arrives 

 from the south early in May and leaves in September. 



Genus GEOTHLYPIS Cabanis. 



Subgenus OPORORNIS Baird. 



GEOTHLYPIS AGILIS (Wils.). 



285. Connecticut Warbler. (678) 



Above, olive-green, becoming ashy on the head ; below, from the breast, 

 yellow, olive-shaded on the sides ; chin, throat and breast, grayish-ash ; a 

 whitish ring round eye ; wings and tail, unmarked, glossed with olive ; under 

 mandible and feet, pale ; no decided markings anywhere. Length, 5^ ; wing, 

 2f ; tail, 2. 



