132 BIRDS THROUGH AN OPERA-GLASS. 



air, and their dull colors serve as non-conductors 

 of attention ; while the vireos, who live on measure- 

 worms and similar morsels, are so exclusively de- 

 voted to foliage that they might well be called 

 leaf-birds, and their tints harmonize strikingly 

 with their habits. They may well be known as 

 " greenlets." 



XXXVIII. 



OVEN-BIRD; GOLDEN-CROWNED THRUSH. 



WE have had the loud rattling trill of the yel- 

 low hammer, the alarm of the kingfisher, and the 

 fine, shrill trill of the chipping sparrow, but now 

 we come to one that differs from them all. Mr. 

 Burroughs has aptly described it by the word 

 teach-er. It seems to beat upon the air, growing 

 louder and louder, increasing in intensity, volume, 

 and rapidity until the end, like 



r r ' F & \ \ i \ g 



teach-er, teach-er, teach-er, teach-er, teacher 



Ordinarily the trill is your clue in looking for 

 the oven-bird. When you hear it close at hand, 

 and fail to see him on a tree, look carefully under 

 the bushes on the ground. If you see a bird the 

 size of the white - throated sparrow, tossing the 

 dead leaves aside with his bill and scratching them 



