330 



Bird- Lore 



bursting trees, impelled by a spirit of ecstatic love that finds vent ever and 

 anon in as joyous and triumphant and melodious an outburst as the wild 

 woods know. 



Such is the Oven-bird or Golden-crowned 'Thrush' or Accentor or 'Teacher 

 Bird,' as it is variously called. A plain, modest little bird, shy and suspicious 

 in the presence of man ; a lover of the deep woods, from the protecting shades 

 of which it rarely ventures; often heard, seldom seen, except by the initiated; a 

 graceful walker instead of a hopper; and possessed of a voice and exuberance 

 of spirit during courting-time that marks it among its fellows. Difficult as it 



()\ i;.\-i;iRi) AS lOLXi). lU'ii/r, u 



INSTANCE, OF FINE GRASSES 



may be, time is well spent by the bird-lover in making the intimate acquaint- 

 ance of this phantom bird of the woodland depths. 



The Oven-bird comes to southern Minnesota about the end of the first week 

 in May, sometimes a little later, less frequently a little earlier. Two April 

 records in 1884, one from Red Wing and one from Lanesboro, are very unusual, 

 and that same year it was not reported from Elk River until May 10. The 

 'teacher' song commonly comes from the budding spring woods just as they 

 are thickening sufficiently to cast their first faint shade upon the newly opened 

 bellworts, wood anemones, and yellow violets below, and usually on the very 

 day that the rich notes of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Baltimore Oriole 

 and the cheery song of the House Wren are first heard in the land. The main 



