BIRDS OF NEW YORK 



439 



in some localities not until the ist to the 7th of September, and the last 

 birds are recorded between the 16th of September and the 6th of October. 

 Haunts and habits. During the spring migration, the Water thrush 

 is fairly common about the edges of ponds and swamps, especially where 

 there is a friendly cover of shrubbery, even about the edges of our lawns, 

 and wherever little rivulets run through meadows and parklands or groves, 

 bordered by a sparse growth of 

 bushes, one is sure to find this 

 species during the season of late 

 April and early May. It walks 

 lightly and nimbly over the lawn 

 or along the damp margin of the 

 brooklet, bobbing its tail some- 

 what after the manner of the 

 Palm warbler, but the motion 

 seems to be produced by a 

 springy movement of the legs 

 and the whole rear portion of the 

 body, rather than by a bobbing 

 of the tail itself. The flight of 

 the Water thrush is swift and 

 darting. When disturbed in its 

 favorite haunts it dashes rapidly 

 away at a moderate elevation 

 down the stream, its course seem- 

 ing to be directed by the brook- 

 let along which it resorts. Even 

 in the migration season its song is frequently heard, though not with such 

 fulness and richness as in its summer haunts. It is a loud, ringing roundelay, 

 rather rapidly delivered with a " ringing wildness " suggestive of the cool 

 and bubbling streams of its summer home; " a ringing, bubbling warble, 

 swift and emphatic, made up of two parts, the second lower toned and 



Photo by Verdi Burtch 

 Water thrush's nest and eggs 



