NORTHERN WATER-THRUSH 



233 



Thrush makes up for a great general regularity of singing by an occa- 

 sional wide lapse into variation. Its flight-song, a performance rela- 

 tively far less common than the Oven-bird's (?), seems to be nearly 

 changeless. It is like the common perch-song, but quicker and 

 longer, and 'framed' in a hurried jumble of half-call-half-song notes; 

 — the whole delivered as the bird dashes horizontally through or 

 barely above the woods. Most notable among the few important vari- 

 ations of its perch-song I have heard was a long, liquid strain seem- 

 ingly made up of at least three united repetitions of tlie regular utter- 

 ances, going unusually fast, in a thinner tone, and intersprinkled with 

 sharp notes of 'chippering,' unlike the common call-notes. The typi- 

 cal perch-song itself is hard to describe in words. A ringing, bubbling 

 warble, swift and emphatic, made up of two parts, barely divided, the 

 second lower-toned and diminuendo. The common call-note is a 

 ringing chip, somewhat less loud and emphatic than that of the Louisi- 

 ana Water-Thrush, but more so than that of any other (?) northern 

 Warbler." {Thayer, MS.) 



Nesting Site. — The nest is placed on the ground among the roots 

 of an upturned tree, in cavities under stumps, in the side of a bank, or 

 in similar situations. 



"The typical nest is placed at the base of an ash or elm tree in 

 the thick moss, close in a crotch between the roots or where a root 

 projects out leaving a cavity under it, also at the base of moss-covered 

 stumps usually but a few inches above the water. A nest found May 

 22, 1904, was at base of a moss-covered stump, and there was a Song 

 Sparrow's nest two feet above in the same stump. A nest found 

 May 22, 1903, was under a moss-covered log and could not be seen 

 without getting down on my knees." (Burtch, MS.) 



Nest. — Nests from Maine are externally composed almost wholly 

 of a green moss with a slight admixture of bits of leaves, grasses, bark, 

 or twigs, and are thickly enough lined with the brown blossom stalk 

 of a species of moss, to malce the color of the interior contrast strongly 

 with that of- the exterior. 



"The nests are made entirely of moss with the moss blossom stems 

 for lining, so are not easy to find as they look to be part of the moss 

 in which they are imbedded." (Burtch, MS.) 



Eggs. — Usually 4 or 5, about evenly divided. Ground color 

 creamy white, specked, spotted and blotched with cinnamon-rufous, 

 hazel and lavender gray, more or less inclining to wreathe about the 

 large end, though in some cases the markings combine to almost cover 

 the large end, over rest of egg the markings are quite profuse but 



