Then what a chorus wonderful when morning had begun! The very leaves it seemed to me were singing to the sun, And calling on the world asleep to waken and behold The king in glory coming forth along his path of gold. The crimson-fronted Linnet sang above the river's edge; The Finches from the evergreens, the Thrushes in the hedge; Each one as if a dozen songs were chorused in his own, And all the world were listening to him and him alone. In gladness sang the Bobolink upon ascending wing, With cheering voice the bird of blue, the pioneer of spring; The Oriole upon the elm with martial note and clear, While Martins twittered gaily by the cottage window near. Among the orchard trees were heard the Robin and the Wren, And the army of the Blackbirds along the marshy fen; The songsters in the meadow, and the Quail upon the wheat, And the Warbler's minor music, made the symphony complete. Beyond the towering chimneyd walls that daily meet my eyes I hold a vision beautiful, beneath the summer skies; Within the city's grim confines, above the roaring street, The _happy birds of memory_ are singing clear and sweet. --GARRETT NEWKIRK. [Illustration: OVEN BIRD.] THE OVENBIRD. ---- NOW and then an observer has the somewhat rare pleasure of seeing this Warbler (a trifle smaller than the English Sparrow) as he scratches away, fowl fashion, for his food. He has more than one name, and is generally known as the Golden-crowned Thrush, which name, it seems to us, is an appropriate one, for by any one acquainted with the Thrush family he would at once be recognized as of the genus. He has still other names, as the Teacher, Wood Wagtail, and Golden-crowned Accentor. This warbler is found nearly all over the United States, hence all the American readers of BIRDS should be able to make its personal acquaintance. Mr. Ridgway, in "Birds of Illinois," a book which should be especially valued by the citizens of that state, has given so delightful an account of the habits of the Golden-crown, that we may be forgiven for using a part of it. He declares that it is one of the most generally distributed and numerous birds of eastern North America, that it is almost certain to be found in any piece of woodland, if not too wet, and its frequently repeated song, which, in his opinion, is not musical, or otherwise particularly attractive, but very sharp, clear, and emphatic, is often, especially during noonday in midsummer, the only bird note to be heard.