2i6 
SINGING BIRDS. 
nearer than it really is. As soon as discovered, like the Wood 
Thrush, it darts at once timidly into the depths of its sylvan 
retreat. During the period of incubation, the deliberate lay 
of the male, from some horizontal branch of the forest tree, 
where it often sits usually still, is a 'tshe te tshe te tshe te tshee, 
gradually rising and growing louder. Towards dusk in the 
evening, however, it now and then utters a sudden burst of 
notes with a short, agreeable warble, which terminates com- 
monly in the usual 'tshe te tshe. Its curious oven-shaped nest 
is known to all the sportsmen who traverse the solitary wilds 
which it inhabits. This ingenious fabric is sunk a little into the 
ground, and generally situated on some dry and mossy bank 
contiguous to bushes, or on an uncleared surface ; it is formed, 
with great neatness, of dry blades of grass, and lined with the 
same ; it is then surmounted by a thick inclined roof of simi- 
lar materials, the surface scattered with leaves and twigs so as 
to match the rest of the ground, and an entrance is left at the 
side. Near Milton hills, in this vicinity, the situation chosen 
was among low whortleberry bushes, in a stunted cedar and 
oak grove. When surprised, the bird escapes, or runs from the 
nest with the silence and celerity of a mouse. If an attempt 
be made to discover the nest from which she is flushed, she 
stops, flutters, and pretends lameness, and watching the success 
of the manoeuvre, at length, when the decoy seems complete, 
she takes to wing and disappears. The Oven Bird is another 
of the foster-parents sometimes chosen by the Cow Troopial ; 
and she rears the foundling with her accustomed care and 
affection, and keeps up an incessant tship when her unfledged 
brood are even distantly approached. These birds have often 
two broods in a season in the Middle States. Their food is 
wholly insects and their larvte, particularly small coleopterous 
kinds and ants, chiefly collected on the ground. 
The Oven Bird, like the Water Thrush, has been removed by 
modern authorities from classification with the Thrush family and 
placed with the Warblers. It is now known to breed from Virginia 
and the Ohio valley to Labrador and Hudson Bay. It is abund- 
ant in Massachusetts and the Maritime Provinces, and common 
over its entire range. 
