66 



WATER THRUSH. 

 TURDUS AQUATICUS. 

 [Plate XXIIL— Fig. 5.] 



Pe ale's Museum, jYo. 6896. 



THIS bird is remarkable for its partiality to brooks, rivers^ 

 shores, ponds, and streams of water; wading in the shallows in 

 search of aquatic insects, wagging the tail almost continually, chat- 

 tering as it flies, and, in short, possesses many strong traits and 

 habits of the Water Wagtail. It is also exceedingly shy, darting 

 away on the least attempt to approach it, and uttering a sharp chip^ 

 repeatedly, as if greatly alarmed. Among the mountain streams 

 in the state of Tennesee, I found a variety of this bird pretty nu- 

 merous, with legs of a bright yellow color; in other respects it dif- 

 fered not from the rest. About the beginning of May it passes 

 through Pennsylvania to the north ; is seen along the channels of 

 our solitary streams for ten or twelve days ; afterwards disappears 

 until August. It is probable that it breeds in the higher moun- 

 tainous districts even of this state, as do many other of our spring 

 visitants that regularly pass a week or two with us in the lower 

 parts, and then retire to the mountains and inland forests to breed. 



But Pennsylvania is not the favorite resort of this species. 

 The cane-brakes, swamps, river shores, and deep watery solitudes 

 of Louisiana, Tennesee, and the Mississippi territory, possess them 

 in abundance ; there they are eminently distinguished by the loud- 

 ness, sweetness and expressive vivacity of their notes, which begin 

 very high and clear, falling with an almost imperceptible gradation 

 till they are scarcely articulated. At these times the musician is 

 perched on the middle branches of a tree over the brook or river 



