OVEN-BIRD 



219 



about the same length; the tail is square or slightly notched; the feet 

 are pale or brownish, the tarsus nearly an inch in length. 



The Seiuri are distinguished among the Warblers for their super- 

 ficial resemblance to the Thrushes, due to the spotting of the under- 

 parts. Their plumage is without wing-bars or tail-patches, and, as in 

 other dull-colored species of this family, the sexes are alike. All are 

 terrestrial, walking birds and two have the habit of wagging or tipping 

 the tail. 



One of the three species is restricted to the Eastern United States, 

 the other two range westward to the Rocky Mountains and northwest- 

 ward to Alaska. 



OVEN-BIRD 



SEIURUS AUROCAPILLUS (Linn.) Plate XVII 



Distinguishing Characters. Large size, white, heavily streaked underparts, 

 and orange-brown, black-margined crown are the principal distinguishing char- 

 acters of the Oven-bird. Length (skin), 5.50; wing, 3.00; tail, 2.20; bill, .50. 



Adult <$, Spring. Crown orange-brown inconspicuously tipped with brown- 

 ish and bordered laterally by two pronounced black stripes extending from the 

 bill to the nape; back, wings, and tail brownish olive-green, no white wing- 

 bars or tail-patches, but tips of outer tail-feathers sometimes narrowly whitish 

 or brownish and wing-coverts occasionally margined with buffy; below white, 

 the throat unspotted but bordered by black lines; breast and sides heavily 

 streaked with black, the flanks washed with the color of the back. 



Adult , Fall. Similar to adult <$ in Spring but colors deeper and richer, 

 brownish tips to orange crown wider, breast, in some specimens, with a brown- 

 ish wash. 



Young , Fall. Indistinguishable from adult <? in Fall. 



Adult ?, Spring. Resembles adult <$ in Spring but the orange crown 

 averages paler and more widely tipped with brownish. 



Adult $, Fall. Differs from adult $ in Spring in the same manner that the 

 adult c? in Fall differs from adult c? in Spring. 



Nestling. Above bright cinnamon-brown streaked with black, the black 

 crown-stripes of the adult sometimes evident; breast and sides paler than 

 back, faintly streaked with black, belly white; wings and tail as in adult but 

 wing-coverts black and tipped with rusty. 



General Distribution. Eastern North America; north to New- 

 foundland and Alaska; west to the Rocky Mountains. 



Summer Range. The southern limits of the regular breeding 

 range are found in Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, and Kansas, south 

 in the Allegheny Mountains to South Carolina ; accidental in Colorado 

 (Denver, June, 1862; Ramah, June 5, 1898), Montana (Fort Keogh, 

 July 23, 1888), British Columbia (Esquimault). A few are said to 

 breed in the northern Bahamas. The species breeds north almost to the 

 limit of trees in Newfoundland, Hudson Bay, and Alaska. 



