WAEBLERS. 81 



State, or, at least, parts of it, only during their migrations, 

 in the third and fourth weeks of May, and the first or second 

 of September. While in the neighborhood of Boston, they 

 stay near streams and bodies of water or in wet woodland, 

 and pick up the little insects and other things upon- which 

 they feed, almost exclusively from the ground, often wading, 

 however, in shallow water. When sojourning here they are 

 not very shy, and it is easj'' to approach them so as to watch 

 their peculiar motions, which recall those of the Sandpiper, 

 and are yet partially characterized by a constant jerking of 

 the tail, — a habit which belongs to several other common 

 birds, such as the Pewee, who depresses the tail, however, 

 instead of jerking it upwards. The Water " Thrushes " are, 

 on the other hand, very shy in their delightful summer homes, 

 and would almost escape notice but for their very charming 

 song. As it is, they are rarely seen, for they are very nimble 

 on the ground, and on man's approach leave their paddling in 

 the mountain-brooks, and their pleasant labors on the banks, 

 to hide in thickets or underbrush. Imagine a forest, which 

 man has never invaded, and through it flowing a cool, clear 

 stream, whose course is broken by the rocks, round which it 

 bends, or over which it falls into some foamiilg pool, and you 

 will know the haunts of these birds ; imagine music which 

 can hardly be excelled, and you can faintly realize the charms 

 of such places, if you do not already know them. 



d. " The Water ' Thrush's ' song is loud, clear, and exqui- 

 sitely sweet, and begins with a burst of melody, which be- 

 comes softer and more delicate until the last note dies away, 

 lost in the ripple of the stream, above which the birds are 

 generally perched. It is probably sometimes repeated at 

 night, as is the song of the Wood ' Wagtail,' and how en- 

 chanted should I be to hear it in the coolness of the woods 

 and stillness of the night." It may quite often be heard in 

 spring, during the migrations and the season of courtship, 



and certainly requii-es confirmation, former species breeds regularly in 



If liis bird was a Water Thrush at all, northern Connecticut and Rhode Is- 



it is quite as likely to have been S. land, not far from the southern borders 



motacilla as S. noveboracensis, for the of Massachusetts. ■ — W. B. 



