The Alaska Water-Thrush 



in through an open window of a passenger coach and been held prisoner 

 until its impulsive captor had relented and turned it loose a thousand 

 miles from home. 



No. 97 



Alaska Water-Thrush 



A. 0. U. No. 675a. Seiurus noveboracensis notabilis Ridgway. 



Synonym. — Grinnell's Water-Thrush. 



Description. — Adult: Somewhat similar to Seiurus motacilla, but smaller; 

 the throat spotted, and the whites everywhere tinged with dull sulphury yellow (much 

 duller than in 5. 11. noveboracensis) : Above dark olive-brown, a little darker on crown 

 and more olivaceous on rump; below white, tinged with sulphur, increasing in strength 

 posteriorly, shading on sides into color of back,' elsewhere, save on middle of belly, 

 spotted or streaked with olive-brown, the spots finest on throat and cheeks, thickest 

 on breast, and most elongated on sides; axillars and under wing-coverts pale olive- 

 brown, or whitish tinged and spotted with olive-brown; a yellowish or pale buffy 

 superciliary line. Feet and legs as in 5. motacilla. Length 139. 7-152. 4 (5.50-6.00); 

 wing 76.5 (3.01); tail 53.4 (2.10); bill 13.4 (.53); tarsus 21.7 (.85). 



Recognition Marks. — Large warbler size, but more suggestive of small sparrow; 

 nearly uniform olive-brown above, streaky below; superciliary yellowish and not so 

 prominent as in 5. n. notabilis; underparts tinged with yellowish; throat spotted 

 (definitive as compared with 5. motacilla). 



Nesting. — Does not breed in California. Nest (of S. n. noveboracensis) : On the 

 ground or in roots of upturned tree; of moss and leaves; lined with fine rootlets and 

 tendrils. Eggs: 4 or 5; white or creamy white, speckled and spotted with reddish browns 

 and vinaceous gray. Av. size, 19.8 x 15.2 (.78 x .60). 



Range of Seiurus noveboracensis. — North America, breeding from northwestern 

 Nebraska! (A. O. U.), and in the Alleghany Mountains from West Virginia north to 

 the limit of trees; south in winter to northern South America. 



Range of 5. n. notabilis. — Western North America and northern South America; 

 breeds from southern British Columbia, central Montana, northwestern Nebraska, 

 northern Minnesota, and northwestern Michigan north to the limit of trees in extreme 

 western Alaska. Migrates chiefly east of the Rocky Mountains, through and over the 

 Mississippi Valley, striking the Atlantic Coast from South Carolina southward; winters 

 from the Bahamas, Cuba, and Mexico south to northern South America. 



Occurrence in California. — Casual during the fall migrations; several records: 

 Santa Cruz, Sept. 25, 1885 (two examples), by A. M. Ingersoll; San Diego, Sept. 11, 

 1887 (Keeler); Cactus Flat, desert side of San Bernardino Mountains, Aug. 16, 1905, by 

 J. Grinnell; National City, San Diego County, Sept. 29, 1906, by C. B. Linton; Marin 

 County, Aug. 13, 1916, by Harold E. Hansen. 



Authorities. — Belding, Land Birds Pac. Dist., 1890, p. 216 (Santa Cruz, 

 Sept. 25, 1885, two spec); Keeler, Zoe, vol. 1, 1891, p. 371; Grinnell, Univ. Calif. 

 Pub. Zool., vol. v., 1908, p. 115. Linton, Condor, vol. ix., 1907, p. 60. 



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