232 The Ottawa Naturalist. [January , 



return again to their winter homes, without being being able to 

 raise a single offspring. 



On the 15th of June I saw another nest of the Canadian 

 warbler, which then contained young a few days old. This was 

 placed in the upper side of a hemlock "up turn," on the lower side 

 of which I had noted a nest of the species the two previous years. 

 As I had occasion to pass that way during the following days, I 

 several times saw the mother bird seated on the nest, brooding 

 over her young; and I thought as I gazed on the lovely creature 

 that a more perfect picture of motherly care, affection and peace- 

 tulness could not be imagined, and I was pleased {o think that she 

 would succeed in raising her little family in peace and safety. 



The Oven Bird. 



On the 14th of June, as I was passing with a team of horses 

 attached to a wagon, along a road-way through the above men- 

 tioned wood, my companion directed my attention to the action of 

 a small bird that was seen to flush almost from under the horses' 

 feet, and by her manner of running along the ground, indicated 

 that she had been disturbed oflfher nest. A little search discovered 

 her home which contained three young just hatched out. This 

 was a nest of an oven bird, otherwise known as the acceator, or 

 golden-crowned thrush. It was partly sunk in the virgin mould, 

 amid dry leaves and some wild flower stalks, and under a small 

 branch, and composed of dry leaves and decayed vegetable stalks, 

 and being covered over like a small hut, or oven, was so well con- 

 cealed that the passer by even in searching for it, could fail in 

 most cases to notice it ; and this site was only a few inches from 

 where the horses and cattle had walked with heavy steps, and 

 where the wheels of the wagon had sunk deep in the soft earth. 

 It contained three young just hatched ; and the mother bird in 

 leaving it acted more like a mouse, than a creature with wings. 

 This interesting member of the warbler family is still a tolerably 

 common summer resident of the remnant of our forest; and owing 

 to the peculiar manner in which it constructs its nest, manages to 

 secrete its eggs, and thus continues its existence in its ancestoral 

 home, from which so many others of the avifaunian race have been 

 driven to seek new homes in more secluded retreats. The mother 



