174 THE WATER-THRUSH. 
oughly the swamp is choked by down timber the better, for it is the Thrush’s 
delight to wall along a fallen log, especially if one end of it passes gradually 
beneath the black waters. The bird is less wary than the resident form, 
and will often merely walk to one side when approached; but if driven to 
take wing it utters a sharp chink of farewell, and flies off in great, graceful 
bounds, which, amid the network of interlacing branches, command admiration 
both for speed and accuracy. 
During the fall migrations, which begin in the latter part of August, 
the Water Thrushes sometimes fairly swarm, not only in the vicinity of 
pools and water courses, now less abundant, but under the shade trees and in 
upland woods. The birds have developed a proper autumnal taste, and to see 
one working over a patch of fallen leaves is a treat. The industrious little 
hen siezes in her beak a leaf three times her size, and by a quick jerk tosses 
it far aside; after which she snaps up the lurking insect prey and passes 
quickly on to move other worlds. 
The song of the northern Water Thrush is not so loud or rich as that of 
the southern, but it is still sprightly and captivating. “Sweet, sweet, sweet, 
chu-chu-wee-chu,’ Professor Jones renders it,—‘The first three syllables 
strongly accented and staccato, the last four short and run together into one 
phrase, the next to the last a third or more higher. Occasionally one sang 
to to che-we che-we che, the first two indistinct, the third, fifth, and last strongly 
accented and a sixth higher, the fourth and sixth a little lower. Both songs 
are high-pitched, clear, liquid whistles that carry far.” According to the 
same authority many are to be found singing vigorously during the fall mi- 
grations. 
There is some slight possibility that the Water Thrush may be found 
breeding in the northeastern part of the state. It is found regularly in the 
central northern counties of Pennsylvania, and has also been reported by 
Mr. Sennett from Crawford County, which adjoins our Ashtabula. 
