FaMILY Mniotiltide. 
the bill and extending downward either side of the 
throat to the heavily streaked breast; sides also streaked 
with sepia-black. Female similarly marked. Nest on 
the ground, bulky, and built in the shape of a primeval 
oven, covered, and open on one side; it is built of leaves, 
bark, grasses, and plant fibre, and lined with fine 
grasses and rootlets; it is generally situated in an open 
place just within or near the woods. Egg white 
speckled with a variety of ruddy browns. This bird is 
commonly distributed throughout eastern North Amer- 
ica; it breeds from Kansas and Virginia northward to 
Manitoba and Labrador, and southward along the 
higher Alleghanies to South Carolina; it winters from 
Florida to the West Indies and Central America. The 
bird is a walker, and it has a characteristic way of wag- 
ging its tail as it walks. 
The Oven-bird is a songster of indifferent merit; the 
remarkable musical effort that has been attributed to him 
while on the wing fails to impress one with its beauty 
from a musical point of view. Mr. Bicknell describes it 
as bursting forth ‘‘ with a wild out-pouring of intricate 
and melodious song,” and Dr. Coues calls it a ‘‘ luxuri- 
ous, nuptial song.” It has the effect, in a very great 
measure, of the Bobolink’s spontaneous outburst, but it 
has neither the force nor the tinkling glass quality of 
that remarkable musician’s song. Here is the best of a 
half-dozen transcriptions I have made: 
Presto. 
"ke Sf 
, os 
roe Es Se 
= fo ee NN NN 
Queecher, queecher, queecher, queecher, 
The structure is slightly similar to that of the song of 
the Warbling Vireo, but there the similarity ends. It is 
really remarkable for its spontaneity and exuberance; 
beyond that Ido not think it can be called extraordi- 
nary, as it certainly carries with it no suggestion 
of melody. The identification of the song is beyond 
any possibility of a doubt; listen attentively, and if you 
hear a wild, lawless kind of a song immediately suc- 
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