BIRDS OF NEW YORK 435 



Seiurus aurocapillus (Linnaeus) 

 Ovenbird 



Plate 92 



Motacilla aurocapilla Linnaeus. Syst. Nat. Ed. 12. 1766. 1:334 

 Seiurus aurocapillus DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 79, fig. 102 



A. 0. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 319. No. 674 

 seiurus, Gr., ast'w, to wave, and oupi, tail; aurocapillus, Lat., gold hair or gold- 

 headed, referring to the golden crown 



Description. Upper parts uniform olive green; crown a dull orange or 

 golden brown with a black line running down each side from the base of 

 the bill to the nape; under parts white, rather thickly spotted on the breast 

 and sides with blackish; narrow maxillary streak on each side of the throat; 

 sexes alike Fall specimens practically like the spring ones. 



Length 6.2 inches; extent 9.75; wing 3; tail 2.15; bill .50; tarsus .92. 



Distribution. Breeds from southwestern Mackenzie, northern Ontario, 

 southern Ungava and Newfoundland to Colorado, Kansas, southern 

 Missouri, Virginia, and in the mountains to Georgia east to the Atlantic 

 coast from Nova Scotia to Virginia. Winters from South Carolina and 

 Florida through the Bahamas and West Indies to Colombia. In New 

 York this bird is uniformly distributed in all woodlands from the slopes of 

 Mt Marcy to the groves of Staten Island. It is fully as dominant a species 

 as the Yellow warbler though, of course, it requires woodland. Spring 

 arrivals vary from April 25 to May 3, average dates near New York City 

 being April 28; in western New York, May 2. In the fall it disappears 

 between September 20 and October 10, a few sometimes lingering till the 

 20th. 



Haunts and habits. The Ovenbird, or Golden-crowned thrush as it 

 was formerly called, prefers a rich deciduous woodland, but it is by no 

 means confined to our woods of maple, beech and hornbeam, or oak, hickory 

 and chestnut, but is equally common in mixed woodlands, and in the North 

 Woods I have found it where the growth was predominantly spruces and 

 pines with only a few deciduous trees intermingled. We noted it a common 



species as high as the 3500 foot line on several of the mountains of the 



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