RKD-KVKI) VIREO. 221 



poiiclilike alYairs of strij)s of pli}il>le bark, hits of dead 

 wood, plant-tihors, tcndi-ils, tine «^rasses, etc., tirinly inter- 

 woven and suspended from the arms of a forked twi'^-. 

 The ejj:i;-s are white, with a few l)lack or l)]-(»wiiis]i hlack 

 spots, ehietiy a])out tlie hir^er encL 



The \'ireos are an exclusively American family, and 



numl>cr some fifty s])ecies, of which seven reach tlie 



Red-eyed Vireo, nortlieastern States. Of these, by far 



Vino uiu-dCi IIS. tlie most conmion is the Red-eyed 



I'lato Lix. \'ireo. There are few favora])le locali- 



ties in eastern North America where, in the summer, 

 one may not hear the clieerful song of this l)ird. Still, 

 it is so well ])rotected by the foliage, with which its 

 plumage agrees in color, that to those whose ear is not 

 attuned to the music of birds it is unknown. But listen 

 near some grove of elms or maples, and you will not fail 

 to hear its song — a somewhat broken, rambling recitative, 

 which no one has described so well as Wilson Flagg, who 

 calls this bird the Preacher, and interprets its notes as 

 " You see it — you know it — do you hear me ? — do you be- 

 lieve it ? " The Ited-eye evidently has an incpiiring mind, 

 for he never tires of asking these questions. He not 

 only sings all day, but seems unaifected by the heat of 

 summer, and at midday is often the only bird to be heard. 

 One would imagine that few birds liad a more even tem- 

 perament tlum this calm-voiced singer, but when ann(>yed 

 he utters a complaining irh<(iKj — Ji sound which is a good 

 indication that something is wrong in the bird world. 



The Ited-eye winters in the tropics, and reaches us in 

 the spring about ^fay 1, remaining until October 15. 



A near relative of the Ked-eye's is the Warbling 

 Virerj — a somewhat smaller bird, with a Itrown, in ])lace 

 of red eye, and without the l)lack margin above the wliite 

 eye-line which can be so easily seen in the Eed-eye. The 

 AVarbling Vireo is the less common of the two, and is 



