1078 Report of State Geologist. 



*280. (674). Seiurus aurocapillus (Linn. 



Oven Bird. 



Synonym, GoLDEN-CROfl'NEu Thbush. 



Head of Oven Bird. Natural size. 



Adult. — Crown, orange-brown, bordered with two black stripes; no 

 superciliary line; above, bright olive- j;reen; below, pure white, thickly 

 spotted with_dusky on breast and sides; a narrow maxillary line of 

 blackish; under wing-eoverts, tinged with yellow;_ a white eye ring; 

 legs, flesh color. Sexea alike. Young. — Similar (Mellwraith, p. 374). 



Length, 5.40-6.50; wing, 8.75-3.00; tail, 2.00-2.25. 



Eange. — Eastern North America, from Panama north to Labrador, 

 Hudson Bay and Alaska. Breeds from Kansas, Virginia and moun- 

 tain region of South Carolina northward. Winters from Florida and 

 Mexico south. 



Nest, of leaves, grasses, fibre, bark; lined with finer material of the 

 same kind; on ground, in woods, often more or less roofed over. Eggs, 

 3-5, rarely 6; white or creamy- white, sprinkled, usually heaviest, and 

 forming wreath about the larger end with hazel or chestnut or lilac- 

 gray; .80 by .60. 



The Oven Bird is so called from the dome-covered, oven-shaped 

 nest it builds. It is known, also, as the Golden-crowned Thrush, from 

 the "old gold" stripe along the center of its crown. It is a common 

 summer resident in the denser woodland of the State. It frequents 

 such land as the Worm-eating Warbler likes — the cool, dark shades 

 of the quiet forest, where amid the thick undergrowth, the fallen 

 trees and broken limbs man nor anything that belongs to him comes 

 to disturb its life. There among the thick carpet of leaves it builds 

 its nest, and just beneath the upper layer the moist, black, humus 

 contains a bountiful supply of choicest food, a reward for very little 

 efPort. Throughout the rougher land of southern Indiana, where 

 much forest remains but little disturbed, so far as conditions are con- 

 cerned, the Oven Bird is very abundant. The rapid destruction of our 

 forests, the burning over of bushy woods and the browsing of lite 



