472 BULLETIN 2 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Indies or via Mexico and points south. Likewise the arrival dates in 

 the spring are confused because of the presence of wintering in- 

 dividuals. 



Winter. — The nonnal winter range of the ovenbird extends from 

 Louisiana eastward through the Gulf States to South Carolina and 

 southward to the West Indies, where it is widely distributed through- 

 out the larger islands, and to the Lesser Antilles, where it has been 

 recorded in many of the islands. It is found throughout the Bahamas. 

 In Mexico its winter range extends from Mazatlan on the Pacific coast, 

 south through Central America to Colombia, South America. It is 

 remarkable that the ovenbird is found as far w^est in Mexico as 

 Mazatlan as it is a bird of the eastern United States and it is unusual 

 for such birds to move westward, for generally the migration routes 

 extend south or southeastward. Birds wintering in that section of 

 Mexico are those which usually come by the Pacific fly way. 



There are records of the ovenbird wintering or attempting to winter 

 as far north as New England. For example J. L. Bagg (1941) found 

 an ovenbird at Montague, Llass., where it regularly visited a feeding 

 shelf, from December 17, 1940, to January 30, 1941, but adds that it 

 may have perished in the subzero night of January 30. 



In correspondence received from Alexander Skutch it is stated 

 that the ovenbird is widely distributed on both the Caribbean and 

 Pacific sides of Guatemala and Costa Eica, in midwinter from sea 

 level up to an altitude of 3,000 feet or more. "At this season," Dr. 

 Skutch writes, "it is always alone, and is most often seen walking 

 in its usual deliberate manner over fairly open ground beneath a 

 second-growth thicket, or in a shady plantation. I have not en- 

 countered it in the forest. It is typically silent, and I have not heard 

 its song in Central America. It has not been recorded before the 

 first week of October; but it lingers through most of April, and at 

 times well into May." 



In Puerto Rico Alexander Wetmore (1916) states: "The oven birds 

 frequent thickets and second-growth forests many times in dry loca- 

 tions. Here they feed on the ground, flying up to low perches when 

 alarmed. They were entirely silent. In coastal regions they are 

 frequently seen in cane fields." In Haiti and the Dominican Republic 

 Wetmore and Swales (1931) state: "The oven-bird is found in 

 thickets and scrubs in both humid and arid sections, where it walks 

 about on the ground in search for food, and though not conspicuous 

 it is not so shy as it is in its northern breeding ground." 



In Florida, A. H. Howell (1932) writes: "Never particularly shy, 

 during their winter sojourn the birds often become so tame as to come 

 to a doorstep to pick up crumbs, * * * and once almost walked 

 over my shoes as I sat quietly." 



