A YEAR IN THE FIELDS 



This bird was unknown to the older or- 

 nithologists, and is but poorly described by 

 the new. It builds a mossy nest on the 

 ground, or under the edge of a decayed log. 

 A correspondent writes me that he has 

 found it breeding on the mountains in Penn- 

 sylvania. 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 

 warbler, and seemed to be engaged in catch- 

 ing insects. 



The birds were unusually plentiful and 

 noisy about the head of this lake ; robins, 

 blue jays, and woodpeckers greeted me with 

 their familiar notes. The blue jays found 

 an owl or some wild animal a short distance 

 above me, and, as is their custom on such 

 occasions, proclaimed it at the top of their 

 voices, and kept on till the darkness began 

 to gather in the woods. 



I also heard here, as I had at two or three 

 other points in the course of the day, the 

 peculiar, resonant hammering of some spe- 

 cies of woodpecker upon the hard, dry limbs. 

 It was unlike any sound of the kind I had 

 ever before heard, and, repeated at intervals 



ii6 



