MNIOTILTIDJL: AMERICAN WARBLERS. 333 



Analysis of Species. 



Crown orange-brown, with two black stripes ; no superciliary line auricapillus 



Crown like back ; a long superciliary line. 



Below, yellowish, heavily streaked ; smaller ; bill not over 0.50 ^ . ncevius 



Below, whitish, lightly streaked ; larger ; bill over 0.50 motacilla 



S. auricapillus. (Lat. aurum, gold ; capillus, hair. Fig. 190.) Golden-crowned 

 Wagtail Warbler. Golden-crowned Accentor. Golden-crowned Thrush. Oven- 

 bird. Adult (J 9 '• Entire upper parts, including wings and tail, uniform bright olive-green, 

 without markings. Top of head with black lateral stripes, 

 bounding a golden-brown or dull orange space. A white 

 ring round eye ; no white superciliary stripe. Under parts 



white, thickly spotted with dusky on breast, the spots .,,^_=__=„ 



lengthening into streaks on sides; a narrow black max- \*'> '^^^RrS^*^ 



illary line ; under wing-coverts tinged with yellow. Legs 



tiesh-colored. Length 5.75-6.50, usually 6.00-6.25; ex- W^ 



tent 8.75-10.40, usually 9.50-10.00 ; wing 2.90-3.25 ; tail 

 about 2.50. Varies much in size, but is remarkably con- Fio. 190. — Ovenbird, nat. size. (Ad. 



, . • 3- ■ -111 , nat. del. E. C.) 



stant m coloration ; sexes indistinguishable, and young 



scarcely to be told from the adults. Fall specimens ordinarily quite as bright-colored as those 

 of spring ; and the orange-brown crown-spot, though it may be less bright, is acquired by the 

 young with their first full feathering. There are at first no crown-stripes ; lower parts bufty, 

 indistinctly streaked ; upper parts fulvous-brown; wings and tail as in the adult. N. Am., 

 W. to Colorado, Montana and Alaska; breeds throughout its N. Am. range; winters from our 

 S. bt>rder southward. A pretty and engaging species, called Oven-bird from the way it has 

 of roofing over its nest, abundant in woodland, migratory. In May the woods resound with 

 its loud crescendo chant, so incessant and obtrusive that the bird was long in acquiring the 

 reputation of musical ability to which its luxurious nuptial song entitles it not less than the 

 Louisiana Water Thrush itself. The bird spends much of its time on the ground, trailing 

 prettily among fallen leaves with mincing steps. Nest on the ground, of leaves, grasses, etc. ; 

 eggs 4-6, white or slightly creamy, profusely speckled with reddish-brown and lilac, 0.85 X 

 0.65. (Name misspelled Seiurus aurocapillus in A. 0. U. Lists, preserving the original cacog- 

 raphy of Swains., 1827.) 



S. nfc'vius. (Lat. rxeviiis, spotted ; n(svus, a mole, birth-mark.) Small-billed Wag- 

 tail Warbler. Aquatic Accentor. New York Water Thrush. Bessy Kick-up. 

 River Pink. Adult ^ 9 '■ Uniform dark olive-brown ; wings and tail similar, unmarked ; 

 below, pale sulphury-yellow everywhere, except perhaps on middle of belly, thickly sjieckled 

 -or streaked with dark olive-brown, the markings smallest on throat, largest on sides. A hmg 

 dull whitish superciliary line. Bill and feet dark. Length 5.50-6.00; extent 8. .50-9.50; 

 wing 2.75-3.00; tail 2.25; bill not over 0.50 along the culmen. The sexes do not difibr ap- 

 preciably. The shade of the upper parts varies from a decidedly olivacemis-brown to a purer, 

 darker bistre-brown, and that of the under parts from sulphur-yellow to nearly white: but it is 

 never of the buffy-white of S. motacilla. The streaking varies in amount and intensity, but 

 has a sharp distinct character in comparison with S. motacilla, and is rarely if ever absent from 

 the throat. No bill over 0.50, and this member lacks the ]>eculiar sliape, as well as size, char- 

 acteristic of S. motacilla. The very young bird sooty-blackish, each feather of upper parts 

 with terminal bar of ochraceous ; wing-coverts tipped witli the same, fi)rming two bars ; streaks 

 below as in the adult, but broader, and not so sharjily defined. Eastern N. Am. to the arctic 

 regions, the typical form migratory especially along tlie Atlantic slope, but also in the Missis- 

 .sippi Valley at large ; breeds mainly from our N. borders northward, and winters from the S. 



