88 A TRAMP IN THE CATSKILLS 



at that moment gunless and remained stationary, he 

 presently jumped down and walked away. 



A seeker of birds, and ever on the alert for some 

 new acquaintance, my attention was arrested, on first 

 entering the swamp, by a bright, lively song, or war- 

 ble, that issued from the branches overhead, and that 

 was entirely new to me, though there was something 

 in the tone of it that told me the bird was related to 

 the wood-wagtail and to the water- wagtail or thrush. 

 The strain was emphatic and quite loud, like the ca- 

 nary's, but very brief. The bird kept itself well secreted 

 in the upper branches of the trees, and for a long time 

 eluded my eye. I passed to and fro several times, and 

 it seemed to break out afresh as I approached a cer- 

 tain little bend in the creek, and to cease after I had 

 got beyond it; no doubt its nest was somewhere in the 

 vicinity. After some delay the bird was sighted and 

 brought down. It proved to be the small, or north- 

 ern, water-thrush (called also the New York water- 

 thrush), a new bird to me. In size it was notice- 

 ably smaller than the large, or Louisiana, water-thrush, 

 as described by Audubon, but in other respects its 

 general appearance was the same. It was a great treat 

 to me, and again I felt myself in luck. 



This bird was unknown to the older ornithologists, 

 and is but poorly described by the new. It builds a 

 mossy nest on the ground, or under the edge of a de- 

 cayed log. A correspondent writes me that he has 

 found it breeding on the mountains in Pennsylvania. 

 The large-billed water-thrush is much the superior 

 songster, but the present species has a very bright 

 and cheerful strain. The specimen I saw, contrary 

 to the habits of the family, kept in the treetops like a 



