THE OOLOGIST'S EXCHANGE. 



VOL. II. 



NEW YORK, JANUARY, 1890. 



No. 10. 



THE GOLDEN-CROWNED THRUSH. 

 by jas. e. Gould. 



What young ornithologist is there, 

 who tramps the woods north of " Ma- 

 son's and Dixson's Line," and does not 

 know the Golden-crowned Thrush or 

 Oven bird {Seiurus aurocapillus ;) who 

 cannot recognize its wonderful song as 

 far as the ear can detect 1 ? 



If there are some who have never 

 met with it — and I expect in some lo- 

 calities the Oven bird is not so plentiful 

 as in Central Ohio — a few notes from 

 personal observation may be of interest. 

 I was unacquainted with this thrush 

 until I came to Columbus, 0., but I had 

 read so much about it that I recognized 

 it on first sight without the aid of my 

 gun. 



This thrush is in some respects a most 

 remarkable bird. It will attract the 

 attention of the most casual obsei'ver, 

 in the fact that it walks instead of hop- 

 ping. So few of our small birds walk 

 that those who do, are brought promi- 

 nently to the front. And the Ovenbird 

 goes about it in such a go-as-you-please 

 sort of way, that one cannot but stop 

 and admire it. 



The Oven bird spends most of its time 

 on the ground in search of food, and pre- 

 fers rather dark, damp woods. Then 

 when everything is still, and nature 

 seems hushed, this little bird will ever 

 and anon startle you with its wonder- 

 fully emphatic, and monotonous song. 



Perched on a fallen log, or standing 

 on the ground, it throws its head back, 

 and repeats (accordingto Dr. Wheatou, 

 and I think it a good representation) 

 the syllables tr-cha, first soft and slow- 

 ly, then louder, and faster, until it be- 

 comes almost a shrill whistle, and you 

 look around in amazement to see what 

 on earth can make such a disturbance. 

 If the woods are open you will see a 

 small brownish bird, about the size of 

 a Blue bird, walking around in a don't- 

 care way, with a perfectly innocent 

 look about it, as if it was incapable 

 of uttering one harsh note to disturb 

 the stillness. But reader please keep 

 your eye on that brown bird; it de- 



serves watching, and presently when 

 it thinks your mind is taken up with 

 something else, it will hop up on a log 

 or stop in its search for food, and do 

 its best to drive those thoughts away. 

 But the Oven bird is also capable of 

 singing a most sweetly modulated song. 

 I have only heard it once, and I was 

 charmed. The bird instantly rose in 

 my estimation. 



Another remarkable feature of this 

 bird is the manner of building its nest; 

 and from that peculiarity it derives 

 one of its names. 



The nest is placed on the ground 

 among the leaves, and is composed of 

 decayed leaves, with a lining of grass, 

 fine ioots and horse hair; and having 

 the entrance on the side, and well 

 arched over. 



As the nest is so incouspicuous it is 

 with great difficulty found. In fact, 

 all I have ever found have been in 

 flushing the bird The eggs are 4 to 

 5, crystalline white, with reddish brown 

 specks. Although so well coucealed 

 the Cow bird has no trouble in finding 

 it; and it is seldom a nest is found but 

 what has one or more of its eggs in it. 



CHESTNUT SIDED WARBLER IN WEST 



VIRGINIA. 



Nesting of JDendroica pennsylvanica. 



BY THAD SUKBER. 



It may interest my readers to know 

 that June 1st, 1889, I found at White 

 Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, (lat. 

 37° 48' N., long. 80° 22' W.), a nest of 

 the Chestnut Sided Warbler (D penn- 

 sylvanica, Linn.) It occurred in the 

 following manner : 



I was out trying to collect a set of 

 the eggs of the Turdidae, and hearing 

 considerable noise among some Wood 

 Thrushes in a dense thicket of rasp- 

 berry vines and small hardwood on a 

 hillside, I determined to investigate 

 the cause of the disturbance. The 

 only way in which I could possibly en- 

 ter the thicket was by crawling, so 

 dropping on my hands and knees I 

 pushed my way through the dense 

 undergrowth headforemost. About 20 

 feet ahead of me was a small nest in the 

 upright crotch of a small dogwood tree 

 with the head of the bird projecting 

 above the well cupped brim. On my 



