270 BIRDS — SYLVICOLID^. 



Simrus motaoilla, Langdon, Cat. Birds of Cin., 1877, 6; Kevised List, Journ. Cin. Soo. 

 Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 17d ; Reprint, 6. 



Titrdus moiacilla, Vieillot, Ois. Am. Sept., ii, 1807, 9. 



lurdas ludovicianus, Aodubon, Orn. Biog., i, 1832, 99. 



Seiurus ludovicianus, Bonaparte, Geog. and Comp. List, 1838, 21. 



Siiirus motaoilla, L'oues, Bull. Nutt. Club, ii, 1877, 33. 



Very similar to the last; rather larger, averaging about 6, with the wing 3; bill 

 especially longer and stouter, oyer |, and tarsus nearly 1. Under parts white, only 

 faintly tinged, and ohieiiy on the flanks and orissum, with buffy yellow ; the streaks 

 sparse, pale and not very sharp ; throat, as well as belly and orissum, unmarked ; legs 

 pale. 



Habitat, Eastern United States; north to Massachusetts and Michigan; west to Kan- 

 sas, Indian Territory, and Texas; south to Central America. Cuba, Jamaica. 



Common, summer resident, but of irregular distribution. Arrives 

 about the middle of April or earlier, and departs in August. 



The Large billed Water Thrush is one of the birds which are not uni- 

 formly distributed, either when migrating or breeding. In general, it 

 may be said that as we approach the northern limit of the range of a 

 species, the individuals representing it become fewer, and, during the 

 breeding season, are only to be found in such localities as are preemin- 

 ently suited to their taste and wants. This appears to be true in this 

 State of the present species, the Yellow-throated, Prairie, and Pine- 

 creeping Warblers, White eyed Vireo, Whip-poor-will, and perhaps 

 others. When on their migrations they seem to pass rapidly from one 

 breeding locality to another, seldom making a stop at intermediate points. 



In the immediate vicinity of this city, I know the Large-billed Water 

 Thrush only as a rare migrant, appearing sometimes as early as April 13, 

 and, with the Yellow -throated Warblers, the first of the family to arrive. 

 They are then found in wet woodlands and .along the muddy wooded 

 banks of streams, never in open places, as is the frequent habit of the 

 Small-billed Water Thrush, nor are they as silent as that species. 



The Large-billed Water Thrush was first introduced as an Ohio bird 

 in my list of 186i, on the authority of Mr. John Kirkpatrick, who informed 

 me that it was found in the vicinity of Cleveland. Dr. Kirtland and 

 Mr. Read had confounded the two species. Mr. Langdon gives it as a 

 rather common summer resident in the vicinity of Cincinnati, and I 

 have seen specimens from Sandusky. My first acquaintance with the 

 bird in the breeding season was made June 19, 1875, in the "'glen" at 

 Yellow Springs. Here I found them abundant, and busily engaged in 

 feeding half-grown Cowbirds. I afterwards found them in the ravines 

 above Worthington, in this county, where they were equally abundant, 



