OVEN-BIRD. 



down, and lined with caterpillar's silk and the fine fibre 

 of grape-vine bark. Egg white spotted at the larger 

 end with a variety of browns. This bird is distributed 

 (perhaps unevenly) over the eastern United States; it 

 breeds from Florida to Michigan and southern New Eng- 

 land, and winters in Florida and the West Indies. Un- 

 like most of the Wood Warblers, it frequents open places 

 and bushy fields or clearings. 



The song of the Prairie is a delightful little bit of a 

 chromatic run, consisting of six or seven notes, all char- 

 acterized by a distinct overtone, thus: 



3 time* 8<3. 



The time is moderate and slightly accelerated, all the 

 notes are closely connected, and there is a perceptible 

 drop of a semitone at the close of the song. At the same 

 time the song is not like the harsh-toned one of the Black- 

 throated Blue; the voice has a higher pitch, a far more 

 lively movement, and it does not remind one of the 

 mournful refrain of the young turkey as does the voice 

 of the other bird. 



Oven-bird This is the noisiest and least musical 



Golden- Warbler in the whole family; nothing less 



Thrush tnan a double forte mark will express his 



Seiurus emphatic accents in musical notation. 



aurocapillus That character of his song ought to be 

 L. 6.30 inches sufficient for its immediate identification 

 without a further description of its swing- 

 ing tones. The colors of the bird are not unlike those 

 of a Thrush, hence the popular name. Crown striped, 

 the centre golden ochre bounded on either side by black; 

 the upper parts generally light, brownish, olive green; 

 no wing-bars nor tail patches; under parts white with 

 strong sepia-black markings beginning at the corners of 



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