The Louisiana Water-Thrush {Seiurus motacilla) in Sudbury, 
Massachusetts -On May 21, 1913, in the afternoon of a day spent in 
the vicinity of the Wayside Inn I was standing on the dam of a pond looking 
down upon the bush growth bordering the outlet stream at its fall, when a 
bird flew up onto a low bough about on the level of my knees and remained 
on the perch it had taken. Its position was less than ten feet away with 
the breast toward me. I saw at once that it was a water-thrush, but 
perceived also at the first full look that the throat was unstreaked and 
white; that the superciliary stripe was strikingly white; and that the 
streakings of the breast were continued only at the sides leaving the under- 
part below the breast unstreaked. It was, therefore, recognized as a 
Louisiana, and not a Northern, Water-Thrush. There was scarcely a tinge 
of buff on the underparts as they were presented to me. The bird scarcely 
moved for probably five minutes. The range of view was so near that. 
I had no need to use the field-glass. No leaf or twig intervened between us. 
As the aspect was essentially a full front view, I could not perceive that the 
bill was larger than the bill of the northern species. This distinctive 
feature, however, was not needed for an unmistakable identification. 
When, after something like a five-minute period of time during winch the 
bird was resting from all activity and I, so to speak, was photographing 
it upon my retina, I moved a step for a slight change in point of view, it 
became aware of my presence and instantly taking wing disappeared among 
the bushes below and was not seen again. 
The only fully accepted record of the Louisiana Water- thrush in 
Eastern Massachusetts, so far as I am aware, is that of one seen by Mr. 
Bradford Torrey at Wellesley Hills, Mass., on April 13, 1902, which “ re- 
mained for at least ten days, being last seen on the 22d ” (Auk, XIX, 1902, 
p. 292). One other record (Auk, XIX, 1902, p. 292) of a bird seen by 
Messrs. Francis G. and Maurice C. Blake on the north bank of the Charles 
River above Waltham in 1902 bears the date of May 21. This record Mr. 
William Brewster in his ' Birds of the Cambridge Region,’ p. 398, is in- 
clined to discredit for reasons which he states. I may be allowed, perhaps, 
an expression of more confidence in the correction of the identification from 
my knowledge of the Blake brothers as very careful observers through much 
companionship with them afield at that time. The date of their record, 
it will be observed, is identical with this record which I am now able to 
furnish. , 
I had already visited the waterfall at noon on my way farther and had 
not seen the bird, but upon the second visit in the middle of the afternoon it 
presented itself at once under the most favorable conditions of view, as 
has been described. I visited the spot again three days later, but the water- 
thrush which was then present was as clearly Seiurus noveboracensis nove- 
boracensis as the bird of the 21st was Seiurus moiacilla. . • 
The location of this Louisiana Water-Thrush was rather less than a mile 
from the nesting place of the pair of Blue-winged Warblers in 1909 (Auk, 
XXVI, 1909, p. 337). — ■ Horace W. Weight, Boston, Mass. 
‘ink O.o 1913. 
