Large-billed Water Thrush. 
My private collection contains not only 
my best work and the finest specimens I 
can procure, but also those which have 
associations connected with them that I 
wish to remember. A pair of this species 
{Slums motacilla) holds all the above hon- 
ors. May 11, 'll , while five miles west of 
Providence, in a place known as the Snake 
Dens, I saw a pair of Water Thrashes run- 
ning around on the stones in the bed of a 
pretty brook that rashes between rocky 
banks. On a nearer approach they flew to 
the top of the opposite bank, giving at in- 
tervals their sharp chip. I shot one from 
the top of a large rock, and going to the 
place found no bird, but just back of 
where it had been was a crevice loosely 
filled with leaves. I pulled out a lot and 
finding no bird arose to leave, but imme- 
diately decided not to give up so quickly 
and returned to work, and took out all the 
leaves I could reach, and among the last 
the bird, which I dropped into my basket 
without putting into a paper contrary to 
my usual custom. After tramping about 
two hours and having several birds, I sat 
down to put them in papers. Had made a 
cornucopia and tipped the bird’s head back 
preparatory to sliding him in, when for the 
first time I noticed what I had. I had 
made the acquaintance of this species at 
Mt. Carmel, 111., when collecting there with 
E. W. Nelson in ’75. but had thought un- 
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til that moment it was the common kind. 
Without delay I returned to the place of 
capture, but the other was not there. Go- 
ing up stream I looked carefully through a 
small piece of swampy woods, and, fortu- 
nately, started and killed the other. They 
proved to be a pair. 
While in West Greenwich, R. I., May 2d, 
I heard a loud ringing soDg which I could 
not recall, and after a stealthy approach 
espied the songster about twenty feet from 
the ground on the branch of a sapling. At 
short intervals lie lifted his head, giving 
his melodious song with as much vivacity 
as his cousin, the Golden Crowned Thrash. 
This was obtained and another heard, 
which, after about an hour’s chase was also 
secured. May, 1880, number three from 
this locality was added. All of these 
specimens were taken along rushing streams 
in which trout are to be found, coursing 
through heavily wooded rocky country. 
This is the most wary small bird I am 
acquainted with, and the past Spring at 
Wheatland, Ind., and Mt. Carmel, 111., en- 
abled me to get well acquainted with it, as 
it was plentiful throughout the bottoms. 
The song bears a resemblance to that of 
the Indigo Bird, and is as often delivered 
from high up in a tree as from the ground. 
The tipping motion is constantly noticea- 
ble as in the common species. The first 
nest was found May 22d, in a hollow be- 
side an upturned root by a brook. It con- 
tained five young just hatched. 
About -lime 1st, young were abundant. 
Their chip and motion was precisely like 
the old ones, and although half-fledged 
and bob-tailed, they were hard to distin- 
guish from adults at a short distance. At 
this time, June 1st, when I had given up 
all hopes of finding a set of eggs, I was 
walking and pausing, looking carefully up 
into the foliage, when, happening to stop 
about fifteen feet from a large tree, a bird im- 
mediately fluttered from its base, toppling 
over first on one side, then on the other, 
stopping occasionally to kick spasmodical- 
ly. This performance was kept up in a 
circular course for fully fifty yards, excel- 
ling any bird I ever saw in this manoeuvre. 
At the end of this feint it flew on to a limb 
close by, giving its usual chip. From 
where I stood I could look into the nest 
and see the five eggs. The situation was 
in such dense and heavy growth of trees 
as to nearly stop undergrowth. The nest 
was placed in the niche caused by the tree 
slightly spreading towards the roots, and 
no attempt whatever was made toward 
concealment. The nest was a damp mat- 
ted mass of rotten leaves, and lined with 
fine roots and partly rotted stems of plants, 
and had to be dried in the oven before 
being fit to pack. The hollow was slight, 
and the eggs resemble rather small, very 
round and evenly spotted Chat’s eggs — 
those with large blotches and not thickly 
spotted. — F. T. Jencks. Prov., II. I. 
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