& 
Brown, Olive or Grayish Brown, and Brown and Gray Sparrowy Birds 
According to the books we have before us, a warbler; but 
who, to look at his speckled throat and breast, would ever take 
him for anything but a diminutive thrush; or, studying him from 
some distance through the opera-glasses as he runs in and out of 
the little waves along the brook or river shore, would not name 
him a baby. sandpiper? The rather unsteady motion of his legs, 
balancing of the tail, and sudden jerking of the head suggest an 
aquatic bird rather than a bird of the woods. But to really know 
either man or beast, you must follow him to his home, and if you 
have pluck enough to brave the swamp and the almost impene- 
trable tangle of undergrowth where the water thrush chooses to 
nest, there ‘‘In the swamp in secluded recesses, a shy and hidden 
bird is warbling a song;” and this warbled song that Walt Whit- 
man so adored gives you your first clue to the proper classification 
of the bird. It has nothing in common with the serene, hymn-like 
voices of the true thrushes ; the bird has no flute-like notes, but 
an emphatic smacking or chucking kind of warble. Fora few 
days only is this song heard about the gardens and roadsides of 
our country places. Like the Louisiana water thrush, this bird 
never ventures near the homes of men after the spring and autumn 
migrations, but, on the contrary, goes as far away from them as 
possible, preferably to some mountain region, beside a cool and 
dashing brook, where a party of adventurous young climbers 
from a summer hotel or the lonely trout fisherman may startle it 
from its mossy nest on the ground. 
Flicker 
(Colaptes auratus) Woodpecker family 
Called also: GOLDEN-WINGED WOODPECKER; CLAPE ; 
PIGEON WOODPECKER ; YELLOWHAMMER ; HIGH- 
HOLE OR HIGH-HOLDER; YARUP; WAKE-UP ; 
YELLOW-SHAFTED WOODPECKER 
Length—12 to 13 inches. About one-fourth as large again as the 
robin. 
Male and Female—Head and neck bluish gray, with a red crescent 
across back of neck and a black crescent on breast. Male 
has black cheek-patches, that are wanting in female. Golden 
brown shading into brownish-gray, and barred with black 
above. Underneath whitish, tinged with light chocolate 
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