Part 39

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.

[Line drawing: _Seiurus ludovicianus_, Bonap.]

[Line drawing: _Seiurus noveboracensis_, Nutt. 2434]

Autumnal specimens have a more or less strong wash of ochraceous over the flanks and crissum, and the brown above rather darker and less grayish than in spring birds.

This species is very similar to _S. noveboracensis_, although readily distinguishable by the characters given in the diagnoses. The differences in the bill there referred to are illustrated in the accompanying diagram.

HABITS. The Water Thrush described by Wilson as most abundant in the lower part of the Mississippi Valley, as well as that given by Audubon as the Louisiana Water Thrush, though its position as a genuine species was afterwards abandoned, are undoubtedly referable to a closely allied but apparently distinct _Seiurus_, now known as the Louisiana Water Thrush. This bird has a very close resemblance to the _noveboracensis_, differing chiefly in size and in having a larger bill. Although its distribution is not yet fully determined, it seems to belong rather to the South and Southwestern States, and only accidentally to be found north of the Middle States. Still a single specimen has been obtained in Massachusetts, and it has been several times found in Michigan and Missouri. Specimens of this bird have also been procured in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Tamaulipas, Mexico, Cuba, Jamaica, and Guatemala.

Its recognition as a distinct species from the common Water Thrush is so recent, and the two species so closely resemble each other, that as yet its habits and history are imperfectly known. Wilson refers to the birds he had met with in Mississippi and Louisiana, which we presume to have been the same, as being there in abundance, and eminently distinguished by the loudness, sweetness, and expressive vivacity of their notes. These he describes as beginning very high and clear, and as falling with an almost imperceptible gradation until they are scarcely articulated,—a description that would also answer very well for the song of the true Water Thrush. During their song, he adds, they are perched on the middle branches of a tree over the brook or river-bank, pouring out a charming melody, so loud and distinct that it may be heard at the distance of nearly half a mile. The voice of this bird appeared to him so exquisitely sweet and expressive that he was never tired of listening to it.

It is also quite probable that nearly all of Audubon’s accounts of the habits of the Water Thrush were derived from his observation of this species, and not of its Northern congener. He describes its song as fully equal to that of the Nightingale, its notes as powerful and mellow, and at times as varied. He states that it is to be found at all seasons in the deepest and most swampy of the canebrakes of Mississippi and Louisiana. Its song is to be heard even in the winter, when the weather is calm and warm.

He describes its flight as easy and continued, just above the brakes, or close to the ground. When on the ground, it is continually vibrating its body, jerking out its tail and then closing it again. It walks gracefully along the branches or on the ground, but never hops. He states that it feeds on insects and their larvæ, and often pursues the former on the wing.

He describes the nest as placed at the foot and among the roots of a tree, or by the side of a decayed log, and says they are often easily discovered. They are commenced the first week of April. The outer portions are formed of dry leaves and mosses, the inner of fine grasses, with a few hairs or the dry fibres of the Spanish moss.

The eggs, four in number, are described as flesh-colored, sprinkled with dark red at the larger end. They are hatched in fourteen days. The young leave the nest in about ten days, and follow the parent on the ground from place to place. When disturbed on her nest in the earlier periods of incubation, she merely flies off; but later, or when she has young, she tumbles about on the ground, spreads her wings and tail, utters piteous cries, and seems as if in the last agonies of despair. This species Mr. Audubon never met with farther east than Georgia, nor farther north than Henderson, Ky.

Of late years, or since attention has been more drawn to the specific difference between this species and the Water Thrush, it has apparently become more numerous, and has been obtained in considerable numbers in the vicinity of Washington. In that neighborhood, once considered so rare, it was found by Dr. Coues to be not at all uncommon at certain seasons and in particular localities. From the 10th of April to the 20th of May it was always to be met with among the dense laurel-brakes that border the banks of and fill the ravines leading into Rock Creek and Piney Branch. He believes they breed there, but they were not observed in the fall. They were usually very shy, darting at once into the most impenetrable brakes, but were at other times easily approached. He always found them in pairs, even as early as the 20th of April. Their call-note was a sparrow-like chirp, as if made by striking two pebbles together. They also had a loud, beautiful, and melodious song, the singularity of which first drew his attention to the bird.

Mr. Ridgway informs me that in the Wabash Valley this bird, familiarly known as the “Water Wagtail,” is an abundant summer sojourner. It inhabits the dampest situations in the bottom-lands, the borders of creeks, lagoons, and swamps, living there in company with the Prothonotary Warbler (_Protonotaria citrea_). In its movements it is one of the quickest as well as the most restless of the _Sylvicolidæ_, though it is eminently terrestrial in its habits. It is usually seen upon the wet ground, in a horizontal position, or even the posterior part of its body more elevated, and its body continually tilting up and down; if it fancies itself unobserved, it runs slyly beneath the brushwood overhanging the shore; but if startled, it flies up suddenly with a sharp and startling chatter. He adds that in early spring (from the latter part of February to the beginning of April) its rich loud song may be heard before the trees are in leaf, for it is one of the earliest of the Warblers to arrive. When singing, it is usually perched upon the lower branches of a tree overhanging the water, but he has frequently seen it among the topmost branches. Wilson and Audubon have not exaggerated the merits of the song of this bird, for among all its family there is certainly not one of our North American species that compares with it. In richness and volume of its very liquid notes it is almost unrivalled, though the song itself may not be considered otherwise remarkable.

Mr. Salvin met this species in different portions of Guatemala in the months of August, September, and November, 1859. A dry watercourse in the forest, or in the bottom of a barranco, seemed to be its favorite resort, while its near congener, the _noveboracensis_, was observed to seek rather the more open streams.

GENUS OPORORNIS, BAIRD.

_Oporornis_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 246. (Type, _Sylvia agilis_, WILS.)

[Line drawing: _Oporornis formosus._ 517]

GEN. CHAR. Bill sylvicoline, rather compressed; distinctly notched at tip; rictal bristles very much reduced. Wings elongated, pointed, much longer than the tail; the first quill nearly or quite the longest. Tail very slightly rounded; tail-feathers acuminate, pointed; the under coverts reaching to within less than half an inch of their tip. Tarsi elongated, longer than the head; claws large, the hinder one as long as its digit, and longer than the lateral toes. Above olive-green; beneath yellow; tail and wings immaculate. Legs yellow.

This group of American Warblers is very distinct from any other. The typical species is quite similar in color to _Geothlypis philadelphia_, but is at once to be distinguished by much longer wings, more even tail, and larger toes and claws. It is also very similar to _Seiurus_, differing chiefly in the longer wings, larger claws, and absence of spots beneath.

Throat and crown ash-color; a white ring round the eye. No black on the side of the head … _O. agilis._

Throat and superciliary stripe yellow; top of the head and a streak beneath the eye black … _O. formosus._

Oporornis agilis, BAIRD.

CONNECTICUT WARBLER.

_Sylvia agilis_, WILS. Am. Orn. V, 1812, 64, pl. xxxix, fig. 4.—AUD. Orn. Biog. II, pl. cxxxviii; BON. _Sylvicola ag._ JARD.; AUD. Birds Am. II, pl. xcix. _Trichas ag._ NUTT. _Oporornis ag._ BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 246, pl. lxxix, fig. 2: Rev. 218. _? Trichas tephrocotis_, NUTT. Man. 2d ed. 1840, 462 (Chester Co., Penn.; top of head pure ash).—SAMUELS, 208.

SP. CHAR. _Spring male._ Upper parts and sides of the body uniform olive-green, very slightly tinged with ash on the crown. Sides of the head ash, tinged with dusky beneath, the eye. (Entire head sometimes ash.) Chin and throat grayish-ash, gradually becoming darker to the upper part of the breast, where it becomes tinged with dark ash. Sides of the neck, breast, and body olive, like the back; rest of under parts light yellow. A broad continuous white ring round the eye. Wings and tail-feathers olive (especially the latter), without any trace of bars or spots. Bill brown above. Feet yellow. Length, 6 inches; wing, 3.00; tail, 2.25. _Female._ The olive-green reaching to the bill, and covering sides of head; throat and jugulum pale ashy-buff. _Young_ not seen. Nesting unknown.

Autumnal specimen nearly uniform olive above; the throat tinged with brownish so as to obscure the ash.

HAB. Eastern Province of United States.

A specimen in the collection of the Philadelphia Academy, killed by Mr. Krider, has the darker ash of the jugulum of a decided sooty tinge.

A peculiarity in the history of this species is shown in the fact that it is quite abundant in Illinois, Wisconsin, etc., in the spring, and very rare in the autumn; precisely the reverse being the case near the Atlantic border, where only two or three spring specimens have been announced as captured by collectors. It is possible that they go north in spring, along the valley of the Mississippi, and return in autumn through the Atlantic States. Their summer abode and breeding-place are as yet unknown.

HABITS. Of the history of this rare and beautiful species but little is as yet known. It was first met with by Wilson, in the State of Connecticut, and he afterwards obtained two other specimens near Philadelphia. Others have since been procured at Carlisle, Penn., at Washington, Loudon County, Va., near Chicago, Racine, and in Southern Illinois. September 25 to October 1, and May, from the 15th to the 28th, appears to be the epoch of their fall and spring occurrence. They are more frequently noticed in the autumn. It is supposed to be a migratory bird, going north to breed.

It was found by Wilson, in every case, among low thickets, and seemed to be more than commonly active, not remaining for a moment in the same position. Mr. Audubon obtained only two specimens, a pair, opposite Philadelphia in New Jersey. When he first observed them they were hopping and skipping from one low bush to another, and among the tall reeds of the marsh, emitting an oft-repeated _tweet_ at every move. They were chasing a species of spider that ran nimbly over the water, and which they caught by gliding over it. Upon dissecting them, he found a number of these spiders in their stomachs, and no other food. These two birds were not at all shy, and seemed to take very little notice of him, even when close to them.

Mr. Trumbull, in his list of the birds of Eastern Pennsylvania, marks it as a summer resident of that State, which is probably not the fact. Mr. Lawrence includes it in his list of birds found near New York City. It is not given by Mr. Verrill or Mr. Boardman as occurring in any part of Maine, and has not been detected in Western Massachusetts by Mr. Allen, though it has been occasionally met with in the eastern part of the State by Dr. Cabot, Mr. Maynard, and others. More recently, in the fall of 1870, and again in that of 1871, this species has been found quite abundant in a restricted locality in the eastern part of that State. It was first observed by Mr. H. W. Henshaw, a promising young naturalist, in the early part of September, 1870, among the Fresh Pond marshes in Cambridge. They appeared to be quite numerous, and several specimens were obtained. He communicated the discovery to his friend, Mr. William Brewster, and more than fifty specimens of this rare Warbler were obtained during that season. In the following autumn, in September and during the first few days of October, these birds were observed in the same locality, apparently in greater numbers, and more specimens were obtained.

Mr. Henshaw writes me that he first saw this species, September 7, 1870, when he obtained a single specimen. From that time until September 27 it was very common throughout the Fresh Pond swamps, to which locality it seemed to be restricted. It again made its appearance in 1871, and at about the same time, and remained until October 5. It was in even greater numbers than during the preceding year.

Their habits, while with us in the fall, appear to be very different from those of the individuals observed by Wilson and Audubon, which were described as being of a remarkably lively disposition, and hence the name of _agilis_. Mr. Henshaw found them almost constantly engaged in seeking their food upon the ground. When startled, they would fly up to the nearest bush, upon which they would sit perfectly motionless, in a manner closely resembling the Thrushes. If not further disturbed, they immediately returned to the ground and resumed the search for food among the leaves. If greatly startled, they took a long flight among the bushes, and could rarely be found again. The only note he heard them utter was a single sharp chirp, emitted occasionally, when surprised. They were all remarkably fat, so much so as to make it difficult to obtain a good specimen.

About sunset, standing on the skirts of the swamp, he has repeatedly observed these birds alight, in great numbers, on the edge, and immediately pass in, evidently intending to remain there over night. He judged that they migrate entirely by day. On only one or two occasions did he observe these birds feeding in the tops of willow-trees. At such times they appeared equally lively in their movements with the _Dendroica striata_, in company with which they were associated. The birds he saw were nearly all in immature plumage, adults being comparatively rare.

Dr. Coues states that the Connecticut Warbler is found near Washington in the month of October, but that it is rather uncommon. He did not meet with it in spring. He speaks of its frequenting old buckwheat and corn fields, searching for food among the dry, rank weeds, and also in swampy places among low thickets.

Oporornis formosus, BAIRD.

KENTUCKY WARBLER.

_? Sylvia æquinoctialis_, VIEILL. Ois. Am. Sept. II, 1807, 26, pl. lxxxi, Penn. (not of GMELIN). _Sylvia formosa_, WILS. Am. Orn. III, 1811, 85, pl. xxv, fig. 3.—NUTT.; AUD. Orn. Biog. I, pl. xxxviii. _Sylvicola formosa_, JARD.; RICH.; BON.; MAX. _Myiodioctes formosus_, AUD. Syn.—IB. Birds Am. II, pl. lxxiv.—LEMBEYE, Av. Cuba, 1850, 37. GUNDLACH, Cab. Jour. 1861, 326 (Cuba). _Oporornis formosus_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 247; Rev. 218.—SCLATER & SALVIN, Ibis, I, 1859, 10 (Guatemala). Other localities cited: _Mexico_, SCLATER. _Isthmus Panama_, LAWRENCE. _Veragua_, SALV. _Costa Rica_, LAWR.

SP. CHAR. _Adult male._ Upper parts and sides dark olive-green. Crown and sides of the head, including a triangular patch from behind the eye down the side of the neck, black, the feathers of the crown narrowly lunulated at tips with dark ash. A line from nostrils over the eye and encircling it (except anteriorly), with the entire under parts, bright yellow. No white on the tail. _Female_ similar, with less black on the head. Length, 5 inches; wing, 2.95; tail, 2.25. _Young_ not seen.

The adults in autumn are exactly the same as in spring.

HAB. Eastern Province of United States, north to Washington and Chicago; west to Republican Fork of Kansas River (Coues). Cuba, Guatemala, and Isthmus Panama. Not recorded from West Indies except Cuba.

HABITS. The Kentucky Warbler is an abundant species in the Southern and Southwestern States, and has been found, though more rarely, as far to the north as Southern New York in the east and to Southern Wisconsin in the west. It has also been obtained at Fort Riley, in Kansas. Its nest and eggs have been procured near Cleveland, O., by Dr. J. P Kirtland, and also in Chester County, Penn., by Mr. Norris. It is a winter inhabitant in Mexico, Panama, Guatemala, and Cuba.

Wilson speaks of having met with this bird in abundance from Kentucky to the mouth of the Mississippi, everywhere quite common, but most especially so in the States of Tennessee and Kentucky. At the Balize he several times heard it twittering among the high rank grass of those solitary morasses. He found it frequenting low damp woods, and building its nest either in the middle of thick tufts of rank grass, in the fork of a low bush, or on the ground. The materials of which these nests were made were loose dry grass, mixed with the pith of wood, and lined with hair. He found the eggs from four to six in number, pure white, sprinkled with reddish specks. He met with the female sitting upon her eggs as early as May. These birds, he adds, are seldom seen among high branches, but prefer to frequent low bushes and canebrakes. In their habits they are very lively and sprightly. The song is loud, comprising three notes, and resembles _tweedle-tweedle-dweedle_. It makes its appearance in Kentucky from the South about the middle of April, and leaves the region about New Orleans on the approach of cold weather. Wilson was assured that it never remains there during the winter.

Wilson characterizes these birds as a reckless fighting species, almost always engaged in pursuing its fellows.

Mr. Audubon states that this Warbler is the most common and abundant species that visits the State of Louisiana and the whole region about the Mississippi River, but is not so common in Kentucky or Ohio. He describes it as an extremely lively and active bird, found in all the low grounds and damp places near watercourses, and generally among the tall rank weeds and low bushes growing in rich alluvial soil. It is continually in motion, hopping from stalk to stalk, and from twig to twig, preying upon insects, larvæ, or small berries, rarely pursuing an insect on the wing. He describes its song as agreeable and emphatic. He has never known this species fly farther than a few yards at a time. Its flight is low, and is performed in a gliding manner. It makes its first appearance about the middle of March, and remains until the middle or last of September. He states that it rears two broods in a season. His description of its nest, as “small, beautifully constructed, and attached to several stems of rank weeds,” etc., does not agree in position, size, or appearance with any that I have ever seen.

According to Mr. Audubon, it feeds largely upon spiders, which it obtains by turning over the withered leaves on the ground. The young birds resemble their mother until the following season, when the males attain the full beauty of their plumage. They remain with their parents until they migrate.

The late Dr. Alexander Gerhardt, an accurate and observing naturalist of Northern Georgia, informed me, by letter, that the nest of the Kentucky Warbler is usually built on the ground, under a tuft of grass, often on a hillside and always in dry places. The eggs are deposited from the 4th to the 15th of May. Nearly all the nests he met with were made externally of a loose aggregation of dry oak and chestnut leaves, so rudely thrown together as hardly to possess any coherence, and requiring to be sewed to be kept in place. The interior or inner nests were more compactly interwoven, usually composed of fine dark-brown roots. Instead of being small, they are large for the bird, and are inelegantly and clumsily made. They measure four inches in their diameter, three in height, and two in the depth of their cavity. One nest, the last received from Dr. Gerhardt, obtained by him at Varnell’s Station, in Northern Georgia, June 5, 1860, is large and peculiar in its construction. It is nearly spherical in shape, with an entrance partially on one side and nearly arched over. The periphery of this nest is composed exclusively of partially decayed deciduous leaves, impacted together, yet somewhat loosely. Within this outer covering is a fine framework of stems, twigs, and rootlets, and within this a snug, compact lining of hair and finer rootlets and fibres. This nest is six inches in diameter and five in height. It contained four eggs.