Length: A little over 6 inches.

Male and Female: Olive-brown above; head with a golden-brown crown, bordered with two black lines that extend from bill to neck; under parts white; a brown streak at each side of the throat; breast and sides heavily streaked with black; no bars on wings, or patches on tail.

Note: Mr. Forbush interprets the oven-bird’s note as “chick,' KERCHICK,' KERCHICK,' repeating the phrase an indefinite number of times.”[138] John Burroughs has rendered it as, “teacher, teacher, teacher, TEACHER, TEACHER.” The bird is frequently spoken of as the “Teacher-bird.”

Song: A “flight song” which Mr. Forbush describes as follows: “When I lingered in the woods at evening until the stars came out, I heard a burst of melody far above the treetops, and saw the little singer rising against the western sky, simulating the Skylark, and pouring forth its melody, not to the orb of day but to the slowly rising moon; then, when the melody came nearer, the exhausted singer fell from out the sky and shot swiftly downward, alighting at my very feet.”[138]

Habitat: Woodlands, where the oven-bird spends much of its time on the ground.

Range: North America. Breeds in the forests of Canada and the United States to Kansas, southern Missouri, Ohio Valley, Virginia, and in the mountains of Georgia and South Carolina; winters from central Florida to Colombia.

This shy forest-dweller is little seen except by the tireless haunter of woods. I well remember my first quest for the owner of a voice that seemed to proceed from every part of the small grove I was searching. His ventriloquistic power led me on until I was about to give up in weariness and discouragement, when suddenly I came upon this golden-crowned warbler that had made the woods ring. He seemed very small for so loud a vocalization.

Another day, quite by accident, I discovered his oven-shaped nest:

Since that time I have had numerous views of oven-birds. One in particular, seemed quite unafraid; and several times approached within a few feet of where I was seated.