50 BIRD-SONGS ABOUT WORCESTER. 



shaped, over-arched nest, which is gene- 

 rally so successfully concealed on the 

 ground that it is considered a great prize 

 by the juvenile collector of birds' eggs. 

 Within a few years it has been discovered 

 that this bird, during the mating season, 

 sometimes indulges in a rare bit of melody, 

 which combines the vivacity of the gold- 

 finch with the rich warble of the purple- 

 finch. This is the first season I have been 

 fortunate enough to hear this love-song of 

 the oven-bird, and, though I had been 

 listening for it and knew what to expect, 

 it was hard to convince myself that so de- 

 licious a warble could proceed from an 

 American warbler. The oven-bird, like 

 the crow and the meadow-lark, is a walker, 

 differing in this respect from the great ma- 

 jority of birds, which are hoppers. Its 

 delicate, flesh-colored legs mark it at once 

 as a ground warbler, since the legs of the 

 tree-warbler are black and much stouter 

 and coarser. 



As the song of the oven-bird in the 

 woods, so is the song of the yellow-warbler 



