164 RED-EYED VIREO. 



pouchlike affairs of strips of pliable bark, bits of dead 

 wood, plant-fibers, tendrils, fine grasses, etc., firmly inter- 

 woven and suspended from tlie arms of a forked twig. 

 The eggs are white, with a few black or brownish black 

 spots, chiefly about the larger end. 



The Yireos are an exclusively American family, and 



number some fifty species, of which seven reach the 



Bed-eyed Vireo northeastern States. Of these, by far 



rireo'oitvactt/i:. the most common is the Eed-eyed 



Plate Lix. Yireo. There are few favorable locali- 



ties in eastern North America where, in the summer, 

 one may not hear the cheerful s»»ng of this bird. Still, 

 it is so well protected 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 intei-prets its notes as 

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

 lieve it ? " The Red-eye evidently has an inquiring mind, 

 for he never tires of asking these questions. He not 

 onl}' sings all day, but seems unaffected by the heat of 

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

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

 perament than this calm-voiced singer, but when annoyed 

 he utters a complaining wJiang — a sound which is a good 

 indication that something is wrong in the bird world. 



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

 the spring about May 1, remaining until October 15. 



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

 Yireo — a somewhat smaller bird, with a brown, in place 

 of red eye, and without the black margin above the white 

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

 Warbling Yireo is the less common of the two. and is 



