WARBLERS 545 



more heavily marked about the larger ends with reddish brown 

 and lilac gray. The male helps feed the young, and his fre- 

 quent song by the time the young have hatched gradually 

 dwindles away. 



They feed on the various insects which they seek largely on 

 the ground, eating beetles, worms, grubs, ants, and in general 

 the forms of insects found in decaying leaves and about the 

 ground. A habit of this species is to keep its tail wagging 

 more or less constantly, which accounts for the name Wagtail. 



Minot mentions a song uttered by the male at night while 

 descending from his perch to the ground and describes it as 

 a low, musical warble, but this I have never heard; see also 

 under the next species for account of song. 



675. Seiurusnoveboracensis (^Gmel.). Water Thrush; Small- 

 billed Water Thrush; New York Accentator; Wag-tail War- 

 bler; Northern Water Thrush; Water Wagtail. 



Plumage of adults : above uniform olive brown ; a buffy line over eye ; 

 below white, tinged with straw yellow and everywhere, even on the throat, 

 streaked with black ; flanks washed with olive brown. Immature plumage : 

 deep olive brown, edged with cinnamon above ; wings and tail darker ; below 

 yellow, streaked with clove brown ; otherwise similar to adults. Wing 2.97 ; 

 tail 2.12. 



Geog. Dist. — Eastern North America, breeding from northern Illinois, the 

 mountains of Pennsylvania and of Virginia and northern New England to 

 Hudson Bay, Labrador and Newfoundland; wintering in the West Indies, 

 Central and northern South America. 



County Records. — Androscoggin; rare summer resident, (Call) ; not un- 

 common summer resident, (Swain). Aroostook; breeding at Fort Fairfield, 

 (Batchelder,B. N. 0. C, 7, p. 110); locally common about the ponds and lakes 

 of the County, (Knight). Cumberland; quite rare, (Mead). Franklin; not 

 uncommon summer resident, (Swainj. Hancock ; arriving August third, 

 not seen in spring, latest date September twenty-first, (Mrs. W. H. Gardner); 

 breeds about some of the ponds and lakes, (Knight). Kennebec; very rare 

 summer resident, (Dill). Knox ; transient, (Norton). Oxford ; have observed 

 it diuring the breeding season, (Swain). Penobscot ; local summer resident, 

 (Knight). Piscataquis; common summer resident, (Homer). Sagadahoc; 

 not common migrant, (Spinney). Somerset; common summer resident, 

 (Morrell). Waldo ; have observed it during the breeding season, (Swain). 

 Washington ; common summer resident, (Boardman). 



