_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.