WOOD WARBLERS. 367 
     
    
   
   
    
     'comparatively rare they become! The reason is not hard to find. At 
     
     most times the Oven-bird is somewhat of a recluse. He passes much 
     
     of his time on or near the ground, generally where the woods are more 
     
     or less undergrown. Only the practiced car will detect his sharp, weak 
     
     cheep. 
     
    

    
     If there be such a thing as inspiration, I believe the Oven-bird sings 
     
     under its influence. Not that his usual song is in the least remark- 
     
     able, but because the bird is so obviously moved by a spirit which de- 
     
     mands utterance. Watch him now as he is about to sing. Flying up 
     
     from the ground, how cautiously he hops from branch to branch, and, 
     
     with crest slightly erect, walks carefully along a limb, when, suddenly 
     
     overcome by the music in his soul, he throws fear to the winds and 
     
     lifts up his voice in a crescendo chant which vibrates through the 
     
     woods. Teacher, teacher, TEACHER, TEACHER, TEACHER, Mr. 
     
     Burroughs writes it, and the description is difficult to improve upon. 
     
    

    
     The bird fairly quivers with the violence of his effort. The result 
     
     seems inadequate; we feel that he is striving for something better, 
     
     and, in truth. as Mr. Bicknell says, he sometimes breaks the bonds 
     
     that ordinarily beset his expression, and “bursts forthwith a wild out- 
     
     pouring of intricate and melodious song,” the very force of which 
     
     carries him up into the air among the tree tops. 
     
    
   
   
    
     675. Seiurus noveboracensls (0mel.). WATER-TIIRUSH. Ad.— 
     
     Upper parts, wings, and tail uniform olive; no wing-bars or tail—patches; a 
     
     buti‘y line over the eye; under parts white, tinged with pale sulphur—yellow, 
     
     and everywhere—ancludt'ng throat—streaked with black. L., 6'04; W., 2'99; 
     
     T., 2'11; B. from N., '36. 
     
    

    
     Range—Eastern North America; breeds from northern Illinois and north- 
     
     ern New England northward; winters from the Gulf States to northern South 
     
     America. . 
     
    

    
     Washington,common T. V., Apl. 25 to May 25; July 20 to Sept. Sing 
     
     Sing, tolerably common T. V., May 11 to 21 ', July 28 to Oct. 3. Cambridge, 
     
     very common T. V., May 8 to 25; Aug. 10 to Oct. 10. 
     
    

    
     New, of moss, lined with tendrils and fine rootlets, in a mossy bank or 
     
     under the roots of a fallen tree. Eggs, four to five. white or bufl‘y white, with 
     
     numerous cinnamon-brown markings, chiefly about the larger end, '76 x '59. 
     
    
   
   
    
     In general habits this bird resembles its southern relative, the 
     
     Louisiana Water-Thrush. but during its migrations it is frequently 
     
     found some distance from water, and I have known birds spend sev- 
     
     eral days beneath evergreen trees on a lawn a quarter of a mile from 
     
     the woods. It is, too, much less shy than motum'lla, and one can gen- 
     
     erally approach closely enough to take note of the characters which dis— 
     
     tinguish it from that species—a smaller bill and yellower under parts. 
     
    

    
     I have heard it sing only as a migrant, when its song lacked the 
     
     wildness of that of S. motacilla.