170 THE LOUISIANA WATER-THRUSH. 
searching noisily among the dead leaves hard by. Nor does he forget to 
give vent to unallayed suspicions by an energetic chink. Or by and by he 
tries hiding, and disappears mysteriously behind a bunch of ferns. One 
minute, two, three, are allowed to elapse. ‘‘Ah, that means a nest,” says 
the shrewd observer; and he moves forward with becoming caution. But 
the bird is up and off in a trice, and flies down the glen without an apparent 
pang. A search is made, half-heartedly, with the old result—‘“nothing but 
leaves.” 
Wherever the nest is to be 
found (there be those who 
claim to know, but the author 
is not one of them), one thing 
is sure, the bird regards himself 
as trustee of the whole glen, 
and his watchful fidelity is im- 
partially bestowed upon all 
parts of it. If you become es- 
pecially interested in any one 
spot—for reasons best known 
to yourself—why of course he 
and his wife can go elsewhere; 
and they move off, sniffing loft- 
ily. Every half hour or so the 
male bird ranges the length of 
the glen. Now he dashes like 
a swallow across some open 
glade. Now he pauses on a log 
stone; alternately moving 
and inspecting until his voice is 7,05 in Aen aOR 
lost in the distance. You may Photo by the Author. 
be near his nest, but he does WHERE 
not deign to notice you, further 
than to give vent to a disdainful “humph’” in passing. 
The song of the resident Water Thrush is one of our choice things. ‘The 
bird has found the Pierian spring, tucked away somewhere among our hills— 
in Morgan County, I think—and has tasted to good advantage. Its notes are 
wild and ringing clear, but sweet also as honey which the wild bees have 
Ol 
COOL WATERS TRICKLE. 
made. ‘There is a tumultuous passage in it too, which may occupy only the mid- 
dle portion or may engulf the whole. At times the singer’s main force seems 
to be expended in the opening peals, so that it almost instantly falls back into 
a milder cadence or bubbling twitter, in which its warbler affinities are quickly 
recognized. 
