208 WAKE-ROBIN 



The vireos, or greenlets, are a sort of connecting 

 link between the warblers and the true flycatchers, 

 and partake of the characteristics of both. 



The red-eyed vireo, whose sweet soliloquy is one 

 of the most constant and cheerful sounds in our 

 woods and groves, is perhaps the most noticeable 

 and abundant species. The vireos are a little larger 

 than the warblers, and are far less brilliant and 

 variegated in color. 



There are five species found in most of our woods, 

 namely, the red-eyed vireo, the white-eyed vireo, 

 the warbling vireo, the yellow-throated vireo, and 

 the solitary vireo, — the red-eyed and warbling be- 

 ing most abundant, and the white- eyed being the 

 most lively and animated songster. I meet the lat- 

 ter bird only in the thick, bushy growths of low, 

 swampy localities, where, eluding the observer, it 

 pours forth its song with a sharpness and a rapidity 

 of articulation that are truly astonishing. This 

 strain is very marked, and, though inlaid with the 

 notes of several other birds, is entirely unique. The 

 iris of this bird is white, as that of the red-eyed is 

 red, though in neither case can this mark be distin- 

 guished at more than two or three yards. In most 

 cases the iris of birds is a dark hazel, which passes 

 for black. 



The basket-like nest, pendent to the low branches 

 in the woods, which the falling leaves of autumn 

 reveal to all passers, is, in most cases, the nest of 

 the red-eyed, though the solitary constructs a simi- 

 lar tenement, but in much more remote and secluded 

 localities. 



