166 WOOD NOTES WILD. 
OvEN-BIRD. — Contin. 
“The ordinary song of the oven-bird, but for its inseparable association 
with the quiet recesses of summer woods, would certainly seem to us mon- 
otonous and commonplace; and the bird’s persistent reiteration of this 
plain song might well lead us to believe that it had no higher vocal capa- 
bility. But it is now well known that, on occasions, as if sudden emotions 
carried it beyond the restrictions that ordinarily beset its expression, it 
bursts forth with a wild outpouring of intricate and melodious song, 
proving itself the superior vocalist of the trio of pseudo-thrushes of 
which it is so unassuming a member. This song is produced on the 
wing, oftenest when the spell of evening is coming over the woods. 
Sometimes it may be heard as an outburst of vesper melody carried 
above the foliage of the shadowy forest and descending and dying away 
with the waning twilight.” — Bicknell, E. P.: A Study of the Singing of our 
Birds. (The Auk, vol. i., July, 1884, p. 214.) 
See Burroughs, J.,:; Wake-robin, pp. 65-66. — Lunt, H.: Across 
Lots, p. 99. 
Limit of Verbal Description. 
That the oven-bird has a beautiful song is beyond 
question, but many as the descriptions of it may be, can 
we get from these a true idea of it, or of the song of any 
other bird? The shape, size, color, habits, and haunts of 
the bird are within reach of patience and care; but to 
fasten the song, the “spirit,” as our author terms it, — 
there it is that difficulty begins. The most accurate 
musical notation cannot hope to reproduce the tone and 
manner of delivery ; by how much the more is it true that 
words must fail to approximate a report of what the birds 
say. The oven-bird is a case in point: — 
“Audubon calls it [the song of the oven-bird] a ‘simple lay’ and 
again ‘a short succession of simple notes,’ — expressions that would give 
one who had never heard its song an altogether incorrect idea of its true 
character. Wilson is still more in error when he states that this bird has 
no song, but an energetic twitter, when in fact it has two very distinct 
