60 BIRDS 



yellow warbler, of all his numerous tribe, is disposed to be 

 more neighborly. 



The little inconspicuous mate who bewitches him is not 

 easily identified if he is not about. While he sings the 

 " witchity" song she is busy carrying weeds, strips of bark, 

 broad grasses, tendrils, reeds, and leaves for the outside of 

 her deep cradle, and finer grasses for its lining, to a spot on 

 the ground where plants and low bushes help conceal it. A 

 favorite site is the heart of the skunk cabbage. She does 

 not build so beautiful a nest as the yellow warbler, but, like 

 her, she too, poor thing, sometimes suffers from the sneak- 

 ing visits of the cowbird. Unhappily, she is not so clever 

 as her cousin, for she meekly consents to hatch out the 

 cowbird's egg and let the big, greedy interloper crowd and 

 worry and starve her own brood. 



The Oven-bird 



Length — 6 to 6.15 inches, about the size of an English 



sparrow. 

 Male and Female — ^Upper parts olive, with a dull orange 



V-shaped crown, bordered by black lines that converge 



toward the bill. Under parts white; breast spotted and 



streaked on the sides. 

 JJangre— United States to Pacific Slope. 

 Migrations — May. October. Common summer resident. 



"Teacher— Tea c fee r— Teacher— TEACHER— 

 TEACHER!" resounds a penetrating accented voice from 

 the woods. Who calls? Not an impatient scholar, cer- 

 tainly, but a shy little thrush-like warbler who has no use 

 whatever for any human being, especially at the nesting 



