Birds of Indiana. , 1083 



Length, 5.75-6.40; wing, 3.20-3.25; tail, 2.20-2.35; bill, from nos- 

 tril, .40-.45. 



Eange. — Eastern North America, from Panama and Antilles north 

 to Massachusetts, New York, Michigan and Minnesota. Breeds 

 throughout its United States range. Winters from Mexico and West 

 Indies south. 



Nest, bulky; of dead leaves, often muddy or partly rotted; lined with 

 grasses, rootlets, weed stems, feathers or hair; near water, in woods, 

 or on ground, under bank, stone or among roots. Eggs, 5, sometimes 

 4 or 6; white, creamy-white, rarely pinkish-white; markings heaviest 

 at larger end, where they often form a wreath; more or less marked 

 with lilac-gray and speckled and spotted with chestnut, russet, cinna- 

 mon-rufous, hazel or vinaceous; .76 by .60. 



The Large-billed Water Thrush is a summer resident, common in 

 suitable localities southward, but less common northward. This 

 bird frequents woodlands along streams and about ponds, first 

 appearing late in March or very early in April. It is the first 

 migrant among the Warblers — for both it and the other Water 

 Thrushes are Warblers and only Thrush in name. The visitor 

 to such localities as it seeks is struck by the loud, forcible, 

 metallic chink, repeated again and again by a bird which has flown 

 from the banks of a little creek to the horizontal limb of a neighboring 

 elm. Between chinks there seem to be just as many beats of its tail, 

 for, as it walks along the limb in a stately manner there is a regular 

 wagging of its tail up and down, and this habit has given it one of its 

 names (Wagtail). But a moment it stays in sight, and then, bowing 

 gracefully, it flies up the creek some distance, and its loud, peculiar 

 song comes ringing through the glen, marking it to the ear as plainly 

 as its tail motions do to the eye. The song, a beautiful, wild, way- 

 ward effort, is not always sung from the perch, but frequently is ren- 

 dered while in flight. I have never known it to sing from the ground. 

 There is another song, which Audubon declared was fully equal to 

 that of the Nightingale. They have first reached Bicknell as early as 

 April 2, 1897, and April 12, 1896; Wabash, April 2,1892; Blooming- 

 ton, April 4, 1886; Brookville, April 10, 1895, April 27, 1885; Terre 

 Haute, April 11, 1888; Lafayette, April 20, 1895, May 12, 1894; 

 Sedan, March 30, 1896, April 22, 1894; Petersburg, Mich., April 10, 

 1892, April 27, 1889; Chicago, April 17, 1886. They are not common 

 as Bluebirds and Jaybirds are common, but in the places they like they 

 are found. Every woodland stream, or spring, or pond, throughout 

 southern Indiana is frequented by them, and the more suitable the 

 conditions, the greater the number. In the northwestern part of the 



