200 THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 



head, dark bro'wn; a yellowish line over the eye; back, 

 dark brown; throat,. breast, belly and sides, white, with a 

 pale yellow tinge, streaked and spotted with black; tail 

 and wings, dark brown; legs, flesh colored; feet, dark. 



The nests are built in the most inaccessible places in 

 swamps, in mossy banks or under the roots of fallen trees; 

 they are made of moss, lined with skeleton leaves and fine 

 roots. The eggs are either four or five in number, white 

 or cream, with brown spots, most numerous near the large 

 end, and three-fourths by three-fifths of an inch in size. 



The birds breed in the northern United States and 

 northward and spend the winter in the Gulf States and 

 the West Indies and southward to northern South Amer- 

 ica. In New Jersey they are transient, but frequently 

 occur in considerable numbers between May 5 and 20 and 

 August 3 to September 1. 



The song is frequently described as resembling the run- 

 ning water and purling brooks near which it is fond of 

 living. Wilson says: "They are eminently distinguished 

 by the loudness, sweetness and vivacity of their notes, 

 which begin very high and clear, falling with an almost 

 imperceptible gradation till they are scarcely articulated." 



The food of the bird consists principally of aquatic 

 insects. It hves much on the ground, walking along with 

 a continual wagging of the tail up and down in the man- 

 ner of a Sandpiper. 



Water Thrush, IJouisiana. — This bird is very sim- 

 ilar to the foregoing, being only about a quarter of an 

 inch longer; it has a white line over the eye, and the 

 throat and middle of the belly are not streaked or spotted 

 with black, while the lower parts lack the yellow tinge 

 of the preceding. 



The bird breeds in the eastern United States not north- 

 ward of the Delaware and Hudson vaUeys and is very 

 scarce in this stS'te, It spends the winter in the gulf 



