Mr. George A. Boardman of Calais, Me., an observing and accurate naturalist, has furnished me with the following interesting account of the habits of this species and its congener, the aurocapillus, in a letter dated St. Stephen, March 23, 1867. “Did you ever notice their walk on the ground? You know that most of our birds are hoppers. These two, S. noveboracensis and S. aurocapillus, have a beautiful gliding walk, and of all our other birds I only remember two that are not hoppers, the Anthus ludovicianus and Molothrus pecoris. I do not think that a naturalist should ever say, as Wilson was constantly doing, that any bird has no note or song whatever, unless he is well acquainted with them, at all times, especially while breeding. Many birds seem really to have nothing to say except when mating. I think that our little walker, the Water Thrush, has been particularly ill used by writers in this respect, for I regard him as one of our liveliest singers. Its note is very high and clear, begins with a sudden outburst of melody, so as almost to startle you, is very clear and ringing, as if the bird had just found its mate after a long absence. It then keeps falling until you can hardly hear it. Its note is very sweet, and can be heard when you are in a canoe or boat a very long ways. Like most of our Warblers and Thrushes, when singing, they do not like intrusion, and it was a long while before I could make out the bird that uttered these notes. I could only do it by going in a boat or canoe. They hide in thick trees, over the water, where it

is impossible to walk up to them. I almost always find them on some island, in a river, that, has been overflowed, and always very near the water.”

Their eggs vary in length from .81 to .87 of an inch, and in breadth from .65 to .69. They have an oblong-oval shape, tapering to a point at one end and rounded at the other. Their ground is a clear crystal-white, and they are more or less marked with lines, dots, and dashes of varying shades of umber-brown. These markings are more numerous around the larger end, and are much larger and bolder in some than in others, in many being mere points and fine dots, and in such cases equally distributed over the whole egg. In others a ring of large confluent blotches is grouped around the larger end, leaving the rest of the egg nearly unmarked.

Seiurus ludovicianus, Bonap.

LOUISIANA WATER THRUSH.

Turdus ludovicianus, Aud. Orn. Biog. I, 1832, 99, pl. xix. Seiurus ludovicianus, Bon.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 262, pl. lxxx, fig. 2; Rev. 217.—Sclater, P. Z. S. 1859, 363 (Xalapa); 373 (Oaxaca); 1861, 70 (Jamaica).—Sclater & Salvin, Ibis, 1860, 273 (Guatemala).—Samuels, 579. Henicocichla lud. Sclater, Catal. 1861, 25, no. 161 (Orizaba). ? Turdus motacilla, Vieill. Ois. Am. Sept. II, 1807, 9, pl. lxv (Kentucky). Seiurus motacilla, Bon. 1850. Henicocichla mot. Cab. Jour. 1857, 240 (Cuba).—Gundlach, Jour. Orn. 1861, 326. Henicocichla major, Cab. Mus. Hein. 1850 (Xalapa).

Sp. Char. Bill longer than the skull. Upper parts olive-brown with a shade of greenish. A conspicuous white superciliary line from the bill to the nape, involving the upper lid, with a brown one from the bill through the eye, widening behind. Under parts white, with a very faint shade of pale buff behind, especially on the tail-coverts. A dusky maxillary line; the forepart of breast and sides of body with arrow-shaped streaks of the same color. Chin, throat, belly, and under tail-coverts, entirely immaculate. Length, 6.33; wing, 3.25; tail, 2.40; bill, from rictus, .75. Sexes similar. Young not seen.

Hab. Eastern Province of United States as far north as Carlisle, Penn., and Michigan; Cuba and Jamaica; Southern Mexico (Colima) to Guatemala.

Seiurus ludovicianus,
Bonap.
964