_Vermivora Pennsylvanica._ _Sylvia vermivora_, +Lath.+ _Dacnis vermivpra_, +Aud.+ pl. 34. _Vermivora Pennsylvanica_, +Sw.+ [32] Length 5 inches, expanse 8¹⁄₂, flexure 2¹⁄₂, tail 1⁸⁄₁₀, rictus ⁶⁄₁₀, tarsus ⁸⁄₁₀, middle toe ¹³⁄₂₀. This is a scarce bird with us. Some three or four specimens are all that have occurred to my observation. It seems, however, to spread rather widely over the diversities of mountain and lowland; for, while the first was obtained on the top of the Bluefields Peak, the next was found close to the sea-shore. Its habits are constant: for we have always observed it perched transversely on the dry trunks of slender dead trees, engaged in peeping into, and picking from, the crevices of the bark. In the stomachs of those which I have examined, I have found comminuted insects. Spiders and caterpillars form the chief portion of its food, according to Wilson. It is too rare to warrant an opinion as to the period of its arrival or departure: I first met with it on the 7th of October. WATER THRUSH.[33] _Bessy Kick-up._—_River-pink._ (Rob. MSS.) _Seiurus Noveboracensis._ _Motacilla Noveboracensis_, +Gm.+—Aud. pl. 426. _Turdus aquaticus_, +Wils.+ _Seiurus Noveboracensis_, +Sw.+ [33] Length 5¹⁄₂ inches, expanse 9⁴⁄₁₀, flexure 3, tail 2, rictus ⁷⁄₁₀, tarsus ⁹⁄₁₀, middle toe ¹³⁄₂₀. I first saw this amusing species about the end of August, around the muddy margins of ponds in St. Elizabeth and Westmoreland; and immediately afterward they became so abundant, that individuals were to be seen running here and there on the road, all the way from Bluefields to Savanna-le-Mar, especially along the sea-shore, and by the edges of morasses; not at all associating, however. They run rapidly; often wade up to the heel in the water, or run along the twigs of a fallen tree at the brink, now and then flying up into the pimento and orange trees. When walking or standing, the tail is continually flirted up in the manner of the Wagtails, whence the local name of _Kick-up_, though, perhaps, none but a negro would consider a motion of the tail, _kicking_. The resemblance of this bird to the Wagtail, Wilson has noticed, and it is very striking in many respects. It walks among the low grass of pastures, picking here and there, wagging the tail, and uttering a sharp _chip_. Now and then it runs briskly, and snatches something, probably a winged insect, from the grass. Wilson praises its song very highly; in its winter residence with us it merely _chips_ monotonously. The stomachs of several that I have dissected contained water-insects in fragments, and one or two small pond shells.