Birds of Indiana. 1079 



stock in woodland is all having an effect in lessening the numbers of 

 these birds and other congenial neighbors of theirs who survive as 

 remnants of the forest population of bygone days. They arrive in 

 southern Indiana from April 14 to 30, and in the vicinity of Lake 

 Michigan from April 17 to May 15. The following dates show early 

 and late arrivals at several points: Brookville, April 14, 1883, April 

 30, 1884; Knox County, April 18, 1894, April 20, 1881; Lafayette, 

 April 29, 1892, 1893 and 1894; Frankfort, April 20, 1896, May 8, 

 1894; Sedan, April 21, 1896,_May 1, 1889; Wabash, April 27, 1892; 

 Chicago, April 17, 1897, May 15, 1886; Petersburg, Mich., April 25, 

 1897, May 1, 1893. 



Who among that select company that is permitted to visit the woods 

 in early spring has not, after a walk over ravine and up hill, along 

 some little, worn path, found his breathing hard and his pulses beat- 

 ing fast from the exertion, and sat down upon a log to rest? All is 

 quiet. From some distance come birds' sounds. The song of the 

 Cardinal, the rattling of the Carolina Wren and the hammering of the 

 Red-bellied Woodpecker; but they come faintly to the ear. 



Suddenly, from near at hand, comes the song of a bird that has not 

 been heard since last summer. It is startling in its sudden interjec-' 

 tion into the quiet, and its ringing notes arouse the listless auditor 

 from the thoughts of the distant to attention to the near-by singer. 

 John Burroughs has expressed what it seems to say in a way that all 

 who have heard it will recognize. He describes it as "a sort of accel- 

 erating chant. Commencing in a very low key, which makes him seem 

 at a very uncertain distance, he grows louder and louder, till his 

 body quakes and his chant runs into a shriek, ringing in my ears with 

 peculiar sharpness. This lay may be represented thus: 'teacher, 

 TEACHEH, TEACHER, TEACHER, TEACHER/ the accent on the 

 first syllable and each word uttered with increased force and shrill- 

 ness." 



The song is that of the Oven Bird. By it he has announced his 

 arrival. During the mating season it is often preceded by from two 

 to four chips. There is also another rarer and very different song. 

 When they first arrive it is not difficult to see the bird and note its 

 movements. A little later,' when the leaves have darkened the woods, 

 they are hard to recognize unless they sing, and are often difficult to 

 distinguish from the usually abundant Worm-eating Warbler. The 

 high bearing and graceful carriage of the Oven Bird as it walks over 

 the ground or along a log, and the confident attitude it strikes when 

 it begins to sing, strike the eye as forcibly as its song does the ear. 



