76 SOME CANADIAN BIRDS. 



an entrance at the side, but sometimes the dome is replaced by a 

 mere arch, and even the arch is not always complete. The lining is 

 made of fine grass and hair neatly arranged, and on this the female 

 lays four or five eggs — six sometimes — of a creamy white ground 

 color and marked with spelts of brown and lilac. 



Some writers have stated that the favorite haunts of the oven 

 birds are in moist woods, but I have found them most frequently 

 on rather dry hill-sides. The birds are often on the ground and are 

 seldom seen very far above it. They place their nests on the turf 

 usually under cover of a bush, though sometimes it is hidden among 

 the fragments of moss at the foot of a decayed stump, or at the side 

 of a prostrate tree. It is always well screened, and its domed roof, 

 which is made of materials from the surrounding delris, helps to 

 protect it from the swarm of egg hunters of all sorts and conditions 

 who infest the woods and carry terror to the hearts of bird-mothers. 



When surprised on the nest the parents slip off with utmost 

 quietness and steal away amid the rank grass and underbrush. If 

 they find that their nest has been discovered or is in danger, they 

 endeavor to draw the intruder's attention by feinging lameness or 

 inability to fly. Their skill at this dissemblance, and the good 

 judgment they use in enticing the enemy to follow them until the 

 nest's safety is assured, when they suddenly disappear, are among 

 the interesting incidents of bird-life which may be observed almost 

 any June day. ^ ' -' 



Both parents are extremely solicitous for the welfare of their 

 brood, and the male displays great fondness for and devotion to 

 his mate. It is evidently for her ear alone and for her diversion 

 that he sings his soft, sweet song — a song heard only in the twilight 

 when the singer is hovering in the air above the nest. He 

 is not silent at other times — quite the reverse, — but his everyday 

 melody has a much more commonplace theme— is quite ordinary 

 in fact. Several writers have put this song of the oven bird into 

 syllables, but he who invented teacher teacher teacher teacher teacher 

 to express these sounds seems to have caught the popular fancy, 

 th(mgh to my ear the syllables we-chee or che-tee are quite as fit, 

 and neither will convey a definite idea of the strain to a person 

 who has not heard it. The bird's voice is strong and of sweet tone, 

 and he saves his chant from being monotonous by delivering it in 



