Wild wood Minstrels 47 



they are very careful never to permit the human observer 

 to come too close. ^They are duly warned of danger by 

 their ever-vigilant parents. Sometimes a youngster will 

 sit on the same perch for a long time, preening his feathers 

 and uttering a little call at intervals, just to keep in 

 practice, as it were; while at other times he will ^ pursue 

 his parents about in the woods, loudly demanding his 

 dinner. One season I succeeded in finding at least five 

 pairs of these warblers, in company with their clamorous 

 broods. The nest is set on the ground in the bushes and 

 grass of second -growth timber tracts. Lined with ten- 

 drils and fine strips of bark, it is "firmly wrapped 

 with numerous leaves, whose stems point upward." 

 Another haunter of the dusky depths of the woods is 

 the ovenbird. His song is one of the most peculiar 

 in warbler dom. Beginning in moderate tones, it grows 

 louder and louder as it nears the end, and really seems 

 like a voice moving toward you. This bird also walks 

 about in the woods, and does not hop, as most of his 

 relatives do. As he walks about on his leafy carpet, 

 his head erect, he has quite a consequential air. He 

 derives his name from the fact that his nest, set on the 

 ground, is globular in form, with the entrance at one 

 side, giving it the appearance of a small oven. 



The gay redstarts, which seem to be so tame and con- 

 fiding in the early spring, turn into veritable eremites 

 in the breeding season, seeking the most secluded por- 

 tions of the woods as their habitat. Their little nests 

 are harder to find than one would suppose; yet I have 



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