Green, Greenish Gray, Olive, and Yellowish Olive Birds 



quented lane near a wood until their family is reared, when, with 

 a perceptibly happier strain in his voice, he once more haunts our 

 garden and row of elms before taking the southern journey. 



Ovenbird 



fSeiurus aurocapillus) Wood Warbler family 



Called also: GOLDEN-CROWNED THRUSH ; THE TEACHER; 

 WOOD WAGTAIL ; GOLDEN-CROWNED WAGTAIL ; 

 GOLDEN-CROWNED ACCENTOR 



Length — 6 to 6. 1 5 inches. Just a shade smaller than the English 



sparrow. 

 Male and Female — Upper parts olive, with an orange -brown 



crown, bordered by black lines that converge toward the bill. 



Under parts white; breast spotted and streaked on the sides. 



White eye-ring. 

 Range — United States, to Pacific slope. 

 Migrations — May. October. Common summer resident. 



Early in May you may have the good fortune to see this little 

 bird of the woods strutting in and out of the garden shrubbery 

 with a certain mock dignity, like a child wearing its father's 

 boots. Few birds can walk without appearing more or less 

 ridiculous, and however gracefully and prettily it steps, this 

 amusing little wagtail is no exception. When seen at all — which 

 is not often, for it is shy — it is usually on the ground, not far 

 from the shrubbery or a woodland thicket, under which it will 

 quickly dodge out of sight at the merest suspicion of a footstep. 

 To most people the bird is only a voice calling, " teacher. 

 TEACHER, TEACHER, TEACHER. TEACHER !" j&ihx. Burroughs 

 has interpreted the notes that go off in pairs like a series of little 

 explosions, softly at first, then louder and louder and more shrill 

 until the bird that you at first thought far away seems to be 

 shrieking his penetrating crescendo into your very ears. But 

 you may look until you are tired before you find him in the high, 

 dry wood, never near water. 



In the driest parts of the wood, where the ground is thickly 

 carpeted with dead leaves, you may some day notice a little bunch 

 of them, that look as if a plant, in pushing its way up through 

 the ground, had raised the leaves, rootlets, and twigs a trifle. 



180 



1 



