50



Lady William Cecil,



The song is so very soft and low, and so difficult to hear, that I am

not absolutely sure of having heard it, not having actually seen the

bird singing. The hen is quite different from the little cock, she is

dusky olive-green and palish dirty yellow, with only a faint tinge

of the blue-grey.


There is no fear of overlooking a Black and White Creeping

Warbler [Mniotilta varia]. He is only found in America, and is the

“ cutest ” little fellow imaginable. He is striped and splashed with

black and white all over, and may be found clinging to tbe bark of

trees like a tiny Woodpecker while he seeks his insect food. He alse

flutters up and down the stems and branches like a Black-Poll Warbler.

These creeping Warblers have a very small, soft song; you may watch

them suddenly pause in the middle of their insect hunt to sing

(< Twee-ek-ie, tweek-ie tw-e-e-e-e,” hardly above a whisper.


The Oven-bird, or Teacher [Seiurus aurocapillus], is a small

Wood-Warbler, which gets its first odd name from the curious oven¬

like nest it builds on the ground, like a wee mole-heap with a doorway

at the side. Its second name is from its call-note, which sounds like

“Teacher, teacher,” many times repeated, and getting louder at each

repetition. Oven-birds are very shy little fellows, and become almost

paralysed with fear at the approach of a possible enemy, human

or animal.


As well as its odd call-note, the Oven-bird has a very lovely

song, which occasionally may be heard in the nesting season. I

had the good luck to hear it once, and to see the bird as he sang.

He hovered in the air, almost like a Lark, but among the tall forest

trees instead of over open ground, and he sang his wonderful little

song as he hovered, and then dropped suddenly to the ground, and

was hidden in the undergrowth. He is a sombre-coloured little

bird, greenish-olive above and white underneath, his breast spotted

wtih dark lines and dots. He has a white eye ring; the only bit

of brightish colour is his orange-brown cap, edged with black, which

justifies his third name of Golden-crowned “Thrush,” though he

is no Thrush !


The Summer Yellow Bird [Dendroica aestiva] deserves his

charming name. He is really yellow ; above slightly tinged with

olive, below bright yellow with a few streaks of burnt sienna. He



