ovenbirdn.
/ˈʌvnbəːd/, U.S. /ˈəvənˌbərd/ Any of various small birds which build a domed nest; spec.
a. English regional. The long-tailed tit, Aegithalos caudatus, which builds a domed nest of plant material in a bush or tree; (occasionally also) any of several warblers whose nest may be domed in shape, esp. the willow warbler and the chiffchaff. Now rare.
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1789 'Norfolk Lady' MS Coll. Norfolk Words in Dictionaries (2016) 37 127 Oven Bird, longtaild titmouse.
a1825 R. Forby Vocab. E. Anglia (1830) Oven-bird, the long-tailed titmouse... The allusion is to the nest.
1848 Zoologist 6 2186 Sylvia Trochilus [= Phylloscopus trochilus, the willow warbler] is the ‘oven-bird’, so called..from the shape of its nest.
1927–9 H. Wheeler Waverley Children's Dict. V. 3069/1 In the British Isles the chiff-chaff, willow-warbler, wood-warbler, long-tailed titmouse, etc., are known as oven-birds locally, because of the shape of their nests.
1960 A. O. D. Claxton Suffolk Dial. 20th Cent. (ed. 2) 58 Oven bird, the long tailed tit, usually called ‘pudden-e-pole’.
b. North American. A brown migratory North American warbler, Seiurus auricapillus (family Parulidae), that builds a domed nest of vegetation on the ground.
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the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > arboreal families > family Parulidae (wood warbler) > [noun] > genus Seiurus (water-thrush)
water-wagtail1759
waterthrush1811
ovenbird1831
accentor1841
water waga1866
wagtail1869
wagtail-warbler1884
1831 J. J. Audubon Ornithol. Biogr. I. 121 The nest..is now and then covered over in the form of an oven, from which circumstance children name this warbler the Oven-bird.
1851 S. Judd Margaret (rev. ed.) I. ii. i. 250 The place flows with birds, and they flow with song; robins, wrens, song-sparrows..; and deep in the forest olive-backs, veeries, oven-birds.
1893 Advance (Chicago) 18 May The oven-bird or accentor, announcing his presence with his startling song.
1902 S. E. White Blazed Trail iv. xlii. 296 Myrtle and magnolia warblers, oven birds, peewits..passed silently or noisily.
1988 Birder's World July 41/2 The Ovenbird's ‘teacher-teacher-teacher’ song is frequently heard in southern Maryland's woods.
c. Any of several birds of the passerine genus Furnarius (family Furnariidae) of Central and South America, which build a domed nest of mud (also called hornero); (also more widely) any bird of the family Furnariidae.
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the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > [noun] > family Furnariidae (oven-bird)
ovenbird1839
oven-builder1839
hornero1880
1839 C. Darwin in R. Fitzroy & C. Darwin Narr. Surv. Voy. H.M.S. Adventure & Beagle III. v. 112 The best known species is the common oven-bird of La Plata, the Casara or housemaker of the Spaniards.
1859 S. G. Goodrich Illustr. Nat. Hist. Animal Kingdom II. 108 The Hornero Oven-Bird of Buenos Ayres.., which is typical of the true Oven-Birds, is six to seven inches long, of a bright russet color, and builds a very remarkable nest.
1882–5 W. H. D. Adams Bird World 455 In the neighbourhood of the South American rivers is found the oven-bird, one of the Certhiidæ, or creepers.
1956 G. Durrell Drunken Forest i. 15 I found that the oven-bird is one of the commonest..of the Argentine birds.
1997 M. Proser & M. Proser tr. M. Mellibovsky Circle of Love over Death iv. 82 There is a little ovenbird that takes its place comfortably under one of the mouldings of the ‘pyramid’ in the Plaza de Mayo.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1789