122 BED-EYED VIREO 



easily pass liiiu unnoticed, for as the Sparrows 

 are brown to match the weeds and fields, the lit- 

 tle greenlet is dressed to tone in with the green 

 leaves and the light in the woods, being greenish 

 above and white below. But if you once set eyes 

 on him you can easily identify him, for over his 

 eye he has a white border to his gray cap. A 

 bird's cap is not usually easy to see, if he lives in 

 the trees ; but the Red-eye has a trick of turning 

 his head over as he looks critically at the leaves, 

 which is of great service to the inquisitive ground- 

 ling below. 



Like the Orioles, Vireos are public benefactors, 

 practical foresters, working out their self-ap- 

 pointed commission to preserve our village and 

 forest trees. They are, first and foremost, cater- 

 pillar-eaters, but they also do great good by their 

 fondness for bugs and weevils, ^lay beetles, inch- 

 worms, and leaf-eating beetles. Like other epi- 

 cures, they understand that fruit sauce gives zest 

 to a meat diet. Doctor Fisher says they are 

 extra vagantty fond of the aromatic fruits of the 

 benzoin bush, sassafras, and magnolia. Indeed, 

 when the Red-eyes are gathered along the Gulf 

 coast in the fall, he says they feed ahnost exclu- 

 sively on the berries of the magnolia, and become 

 exceedingly fat. It is thought that the magnolia 

 imparts a delicate flavor to the flesh, but however 

 this may be, the sad fact remains that immense 

 numbers of the little songsters are slaughtered 



