FAMILY Mniotiltldae. 



the bill and extending downward either side of the 

 throat to the heavily streaked breast; sides also streaked 

 with sepia-black. Female similarly marked. N 

 the ground, bulky, and built in the shape of a primeval 

 oven, covered, and open on one side; it is built of leaves, 

 bark, grasses, and plant fibre, and lined with fine 

 grasses and rootlets; it is generally situated in an open 

 place just within or near the woods. Egg white 

 speckled with a variety of ruddy browns. This bird is 

 commonly distributed throughout eastern North Amer- 

 ica; it breeds from Kansas and Virginia northward to 

 Manitoba and Labrador, and southward along the 

 higher Alleghanies to South Carolina; it winters from 

 Florida to the West Indies and Central America. The 

 bird is a walker, and it has a characteristic w T ay of wag- 

 ging its tail as it walks. 



The Oven-bird is a songster of indifferent merit; the 

 remarkable musical effort that has been attributed to him 

 while on the wing fails to impress one with its beauty 

 from a musical point of view. Mr. Bicknell describes it 

 as bursting forth " with a wild out-pouring of intricate 

 and melodious song," and Dr. Coues calls it a " luxuri- 

 ous, nuptial song." It has the effect, in a very great 

 measure, of the Bobolink's spontaneous outburst, but it 

 has neither the force nor the tinkling glass quality of 

 that remarkable musician's song. Here is the best of a 

 half-dozen transcriptions I have made: 



The structure is slightly similar to that of the song of 

 the Warbling Vireo, but there the similarity ends. It is 

 really remarkable for its spontaneity and exuberance; 

 beyond that I do not think it can be called extraordi- 

 nary, as it certainly carries with it no suggestion 

 of melody. The identification of the song is beyond 

 any possibility of a doubt; listen attentively, and if you 

 hrar ;i wild, lawless kind of a song imnipdiatrly sue- 

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