AQUATIC WOOD-WAGTAIL (LOUISIANA WATER THRUSH). 
female lays four or five eggs, and takes fourteen days to hatch them. When 
disturbed on her nest at an early period of incubation, she merely flies off ; 
but if discovered towards the conclusion of that period, she is seen tumbling 
and rolling about, spreading her wings and tail, as if in the last agonies of 
despair, uttering all the while a most piteous tone, to entice the intruder to 
follow her. 
The young leave the nest in about ten days, and follow the parent from 
place to place, on the ground, where they are fed until able to fly. I have 
not been able to ascertain whether this bird rears more than one brood in a 
season, but am inclined to believe that it does not. The eggs are flesh- 
coloured, sprinkled with darker red on the large end. 
During winter, it becomes so plump as to be a pure mass of fat, and 
furnishes extremely delicate eating. I have never seen this species farther 
eastward than Georgia, nor higher on the Ohio than the cane-brakes about 
Henderson. 
Dr. Richardson states that this species was seen “at Carlton House, 
where it frequented the moist and thickly wooded points of the river. It 
arrived in May, and disappeared after a few days, probably going farther 
north to breed.” Mr. Townsend informs me that it is common in the 
districts adjoining the Columbia river, but does not say whether it breeds 
there or not, although he states that it breeds on the Missouri. During my 
late journey to the Texas, my friend Edward Harris and my son John 
Woodhouse procured a good number of these birds in the months of April 
and May. They were then migrating along the shores and islands of the 
Gulf of Mexico. 
In winter resident from Texas to Florida, including Louisiana. In summer 
migrates as far as the Fur Countries. Not abundant. 
Water Thrush, Turdus aquaticus, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. iii. p. 66.- 
Sylvia novasboracensis, Bonap. Syn., p. 77. 
. Seiurus'aquaticus, Aquatic Accentor , Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 229. 
New York or Aquatic Thrush, Turdus novceboraccnsis, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 353. 
Louisiana Water Thrush, Turdus ludovicianus, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. i. p. 99. 
Common Water Thrush, Turdus aquaticus , Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. v. p. 284. 
Adult Male. 
Bill of ordinary length, straight, slender, tapering to a point, broadish at 
the base, compressed towards the end ; upper mandible with the edges sharp, 
and destitute of a notch. Nostrils basal, rounded, half closed by a membrane. 
Feet of ordinary length, rather slender ; tarsus a little longer than the middle 
toe; toes free; claws slender, much compressed, arched, acute, the hind one 
not much larger than that of the middle toe. 
