254 



SINGING BIRDS. 



The bird has been taken throughout the greater part of this 

 Eastern Province ; but its distribution appears, from the evidence 

 so far gathered, to be somewhat pecuUar. It winters in Mexico 

 and southward, and in the spring migrates wholly along the Missis- 

 sippi valley, where it is more or less abundant north to Manitoba, 

 though it is rarely seen at that season to the eastward of lUinois. 

 It breeds in Minnesota, Dakota, and Manitoba, and in the au- 

 tumn part of the flocks go south along the Mississippi, while others 

 pass eastward along the shores of the Great Lakes, and thence to 

 Massachusetts, the most northern limit of the bird's range on 

 the Atlantic side, where it is common during the first half of 

 September, after which the flocks continue on a gradual movement 

 southward. 



Dr. Wheaton considered the species very rare in Ohio, and it 

 was thought to be rare in Ontario until 1884, when my friend Wil- 

 liam Saunders found it common in the vicinity of London. The 

 only nest yet taken was discovered by another friend and fellow- 

 worker Ernest Thompson. It was found near Carberry, Manitoba, 

 in 1883, sunk amid a mossy mound in a tamarack swamp, — "a 

 dark, gray waste." 



In the West, during the spring migrations, these birds are exceed- 

 ingly active and very shy, moving incessantly among the branches 

 in quest of insects, and when approached darting into the thickest 

 covers ; but those I saw on the Fresh Pond marsh at Cambridge 

 fed chiefly on the ground, among the leaves, and when disturbed 

 flew generally but a short distance to a low branch, and sat as com- 

 posedly as a Thrush. 



Thompson describes the song as similar to the Golden-crowned 

 Thrush, and says it may be suggested by the syllables beech er- 

 beecher-beecher-beecher-beecher-beecher, sung at the same pitch 

 throughout. 



