156 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 



white ; eye-stripe dusky. Under parts, white ; sides olive- 

 shaded. Wings and tail, generally dusky. Iris red. ^ 



(&). The nest is hung from a fork, usuallj^ near the end of 

 a limb, between four and twenty feet above the ground, in the 

 woods, in a shade-tree, in an orchard-tree, or occasionally in a 

 pine. It is small, and cup-shaped ; but, though very service- 

 able, is rarely very neatly made. It is constructed of strips 

 of thin bark, occasionally of that of the white birch, is lined 

 almost invariably with pine-needles, where pines exist, and is 

 sometimes ornamented, if I may say so, with chips, bits of 

 newspaper or wasps' nests, and caterpillar's sill<:. It is finished 

 here about the first of June ; and in the first week of that 

 month four or five eggs are laid. These eggs average -83 X '62 

 of an inch, and are white, with a few brownish-black spots at 

 the larger end. A second set is sometimes laid in July. 



(c) . When I announce that I am going to write about the 

 habits of one of our most familiar birds and the most voluble 

 songster that we possess, who all through the day, when nearly 

 ever}' other bird is quiet, prolongs his cheerful Avarble in almost 

 ever}'^ grove — sometimes even among the trees of our cities, 

 though such haunts he usually avoids — many will know that I 

 refer to the Red-eyed Vireo. These vireos may be found 

 throughout New England, in the latter part, if not nearly the 

 whole, of May, in the summer-months, and in September. 

 Thej' inhabit many kinds of woods, also groves, and clumps or 

 rows of trees about houses, particularly those near wooded land. 



They show more familiarity to man than the other species, 

 except the Warbling Vireos, and are almost everywhere common 

 and well-known. They rarely pursue insects in the air in the 

 manner of the flycatchers, but seize them as they themselves 

 flutter among the branches of the trees, in which they usually 

 remain at no very great height from the ground. I have noticed 

 that the males, while the females are upon their nests, generally 

 select a spot at some distance from them, which they make 

 their haunt and concert-grove. They have never struck me as 

 very active insect-hunters, since they devote so much of their 

 time to music. They evidently, however, never suffer from 



