232 OVEN-BIRD. 



ing birds, Imt tlie Bpecies now to lie spoken of pass most 

 of their time in tlie undergrowtli or on the grouml. Tlie 



Oven-bird Oven-bird chooses the latter locality. 



Seivrus aiiromptUiis. He has Ijccn well Compared liy Mr. 



Plate LXiii. Buri'onghs to a little Partridge, and if 

 you have enongh persevei'anee to find the author of the 

 sharp I'Jteej) with which this somewhat suspicious bird 

 will greet you, you will see a modestly attired little 

 walker daintily picking his way over the leaves and fallen 

 brandies, with crest slightly erect, and liead nodding at 

 each step. 



Prol_ia1;ily, however, your first acquaintance with the 

 Oven-bird will be made through the medium of his song. 

 There are fe^v bits of woodland -where in May and June 

 you can not hear numbers (;f these birtls singing. It is a 

 loud, ringing, crescendo chant, to which Mr. Burroughs's 

 description of " teacher, teacher, teachee, TEACIIEE, 

 TEACHER " is so applicable that no one would think of 

 describing it in any other way. The bird seems to exert 

 himself to the utmost, and no one hearing this far from 

 musical performance woukl imagine that he could im- 

 prove upon it. But if some evening during the height 

 of the mating season you will visit the Oven-bird's 

 haunts, you may hear a song whose wildness is startling. 

 It is the flight-song of the Oven-bird, transforming the 

 humljle chanter into an inspired nmsician. Soaring high 

 above the trees, he gives utterance to a i-ai3id, ecstatic 

 warbling so unlike his ordinary song tliat it is difficult to 

 believe one l)ird is the author of them lioth. 



As an architect the Oven-l)ird is also distinguislied. 

 His unique nest is built on the groimd of coarse grasses, 

 weed stalks, leaves, and rootlets, and is roofed over, the 

 entrance being at one side. It thus resembles an old- 

 faslnoned Dutch oven, and its shape is the origin of its 

 builder's name. The (Jven-bird arrives from the South 



