252 THE RED-EYED VIREO. 



but mostly of something like fine shreds of bark from the 

 wild grape-vine. The eggs, three or four, measuring some 

 .82X.62, of a pure glossy-white, are generally barely 

 specked on the larger end with dark brown, sometimes also 

 sparingly blotched with dull red. All the Vireo's eggs are 

 more or less pointed. 



Never shall I forget a beautiful evening on the 18th of 

 May, when I was most highly entertained by a female Red- 

 eye building her nest. It was after one of those genial 

 spring days, when all the latent forces of nature are wooed 

 into activity. Strolling through the woods near sunset, I 

 sat upon a large stump, where a lately fallen tree had left 

 quite an opening, letting in the sunlight with a most grateful 

 effect. Here I listened to a host of birds all around me. 

 About fifteen feet up in a smallish beech, I noticed a silent 

 Red-eye, looking very anxious and busy. Presently I saw 

 a few feet from her the merest outline of a nest — a little 

 gossamer bag hung to the twigs. In a moment she lit upon 

 it and began to work. I could see the motion of the 

 weaver, but not a thread of the material, it was so very 

 fine. Reaching around the fabric, even underneath it, she 

 would seem to catch some loose thread, and drawing it over 

 the side and edge, fasten it inside. Working thus a few 

 moments, all around inside and outside of the nest, she 

 would fly away, soon returning to repeat the same opera- 

 tion. Though so near, I could scarcely discern a particle of 

 the material she brought, and yet the nest grew rapidly. 

 Wonderful little workman! Where did she learn her art ? 



Wintering partly in Florida, but mostly in tropical America, 

 and extending their summer range throughout the Eastern 

 United States, the British Provinces, and the Northwest, 

 the Red-eyed Vireos are among the most abundant and 

 characteristic birds of Eastern North America. 



