220 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



that a skunk or other depredator had destroyed the whole 

 family. 



The Oven-bird feeds principally upon small insects and 

 smooth caterpillars, which it obtains usually on the ground, 

 among the fallen leaves : when berries are in season, it feeds 

 occasionally upon them ; and it seems particularly fond of 

 small spiders, with which I have sometimes found its stom- 

 ach filled. About the 12th or 15th of September, after the 

 young birds have become capable of providing for them- 

 selves, the whole family leave for the South. 



SEIURUS NOVEBORACENSIS. Nuttall. 

 The Water Thrush ; Water Wagtail. 



Motadlla Noveboracensis, Gmelin. Syst. Nat., I. (1788) 958. 



Turdus (Seiurus) Noveboracensis, Nuttall. Man., I. (1832) 353. 



Turdus aquaticus, Wilson. Am. Orn., III. (1811) 66. Aud. Orn. Biog., V. (1839) 

 284. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Bill, from rictus, about the length of the skull; ahove olive-brown, with a shade 

 of green ; beneath pale sulphur-yellow, brightest on the abdomen ; region about the 

 base of the lower mandible, and a superciliary line from the base of the bill to the 

 nape, brownish-yellow; a dusky line from the bill through the eye; chin and throat 

 finely spotted; all the remaining under parts and sides of the body, except the 

 abdomen, and including the under tail coverts, conspicuously and thickly streaked 

 with olivaceous-brown, almost black on the breast. 



Length, six and fifteen one-hundredths inches ; wing, three and twelve one-hun- 

 dredths inches ; tail, two and forty one-hundredths inches ; bill, from rictus, sixty- 

 four one-hundredths of an inch. 



This bird is not very uncommon in New England in the 

 spring and fall migrations (arriving about the 1st of May, 

 and departing about the last week in September) ; and I 

 have sometimes seen it in summer in Massachusetts. It 

 undoubtedly breeds in the three northern of these States, 

 and probably in them all. In its habits, it much resembles 

 the preceding species ; but it is seldom found in any but a 

 wet locality. 



Wilson says, "This bird is remarkable for its partiality 

 to brooks, rivers, shores, ponds, and streams of water; 



