OVEN-BIRD 



333 



the nest. No ordinary mortals mnst be let into 

 the personal concerns of the family. If one care 

 to listen to a soloist at a respectful distance, that 

 is one matter, but ! If one cannot watch the birds 

 at the nest, it is some satisfaction to examine it 

 when they are away, for it is low to the ground, 

 and a bulky affair of leaves, grass, and bark, and 

 the eggs are large, white, and evenly spotted with 

 brown. When attending to serious matters, the 

 Chat is said to eat tent-caterpillars. 



Oven-bird : Seiurus aurocapillus. 



Crown g'olden brown, inclosed by two dark lines ; rest of upper 

 parts olive-green ; vinder parts white, streaked with black. 

 Length, about Oj inches. 



Geographic Distribution. — Eastern North America ; breeds 

 from Kansas and Virginia northward to Manitoba and Labra- 

 dor, southward along- the AUeghanies to South Carolina ; win- 

 ters from Florida southward. 



In Washington, New England, and New York, 

 one of the commonest and most pervading wood- 

 land songs is that of the 

 Oven-bird. It is a repeti- 

 tion of the word teach-e7\ or 

 teach ^ rising from an ordi- 

 nary tone to a very loud 

 one, so marked that the bird 

 has been aptly called the 

 ' Crescendo Chicken.' The 

 chicken part of the name 

 comes from the fact that, instead of hopping, the 



Fig. 170. 

 Oven-bird. 



