166 WOOD NOTES WILD. 



OVEN-BIRD. Contin. 



" The ordinary song of the oven-bird, but for its inseparable association 

 with the quiet recesses of summer woods, would certainly seem to us mon- 

 otonous and commonplace ; and the bird's persistent reiteration of this 

 plain song might well lead us to believe that it had no higher vocal capa- 

 bility. But it is now well known that, on occasions, as if sudden emotions 

 carried it beyond the restrictions that ordinarily beset its expression, it 

 bursts forth with a wild outpouring of intricate and melodious song, 

 proving itself the superior vocalist of the trio of pseudo-thrushes of 

 which it is so unassuming a member. This song is produced on the 

 wing, oftenest when the spell of evening is coming over the woods. 

 Sometimes it may be heard as an outburst of vesper melody carried 

 above the foliage of the shadowy forest and descending and dying away 

 with the waning twilight." Bicknell, E. P. : A Study of the Singing of our 

 Birds. (The Auk, vol. i., July, 1884, p. 214.) 



See Burroughs, J., : Wake-robin, pp. 65-66. Lunt, H. : Across 

 Lots, p. 99. 



Limit of Verbal Description. 



That the oven-bird has a beautiful song is beyond 

 question, but many as the descriptions of it may be, can 

 we get from these a true idea of it, or of the song of any 

 other bird ? The shape, size, color, habits, and haunts of 

 the bird are within reach of patience and care; but to 

 fasten the song, the "spirit," as our author terms it, 

 there it is that difficulty begins. The most accurate 

 musical notation cannot hope to reproduce the tone and 

 manner of delivery ; by how much the more is it true that 

 words must fail to approximate a report of what the birds 

 say. The oven-bird is a case in point : 



"Audubon calls it [the song of the oven-bird] a 'simple lay' and 

 again ' a short succession of simple notes/ expressions that would give 

 one who had never heard its song an altogether incorrect idea of its true 

 character. Wilson is still more in error when he states that this bird has 

 no song, but an energetic twitter, when in fact it has two very distinct 



