WHITE-EYED VIREO. 1 79 



peeping through the bushes ; and in the latter end of the 

 month a pair had taken up their abode in the thickets of 

 Fresh Pond, so that those which first arrive leave us and pro- 

 ceed farther to the north. On the 2 2d of June I heard the 

 male in full song, near his nest in our neighborhood, where in- 

 cubation was going on. His warble was very pleasing, though 

 somewhat monotonous and whimsical. This affectionate note, 

 often repeated near to his faithful mate while confined to 

 her nest, was like ' tshippewee-wd-say, tsKippewee-wee-was-say , 

 sweetly whistled, and with a greater compass of voice and 

 loudness than might have been expected from the size of the 

 little vocalist. The song is sometimes changed two or three 

 times in the course of twenty minutes ; and 1 have heard the 

 following phrases : 'att tshippewat 'wurr, tshippewat 'wurr ; at 

 another time, Ushipeway ^tshe o et ^tsherr. On another visit 

 the little performer had changed his song to 'pip te waigh a 

 tshewa, with a guttural trill, as usual, at the last syllable. He 

 soon, however, varied his lay to 'wh'ip te woi wee, the last sylla- 

 ble but one considerably lengthened and clearly whistled. Such 

 were the captious variations of this little quaint and peculiarly 

 earnest musician, whose notes are probably almost continually 

 varied. On the 6th of October I still heard one of these wan- 

 dering little minstrels, who at intervals had for several weeks 

 visited the garden, probably in quest of berries. His short, 

 quaint, and more guttural song was now atshee-vdit (probably 

 the attempt of a young bird). As late as the 30th of October 

 the White-Eyed Vireo still lingered around Cambridge, and 

 on the margin of a pond, surrounded by weeds and willows, he 

 was actively employed in gleaning up insects and their larvae ; 

 and now, with a feebler tone of voice, warbled with uncommon 

 sweetness wholly different from his usual strain, sounding some- 

 thing like the sweet whisperings of the Song Sparrow at the 

 present season, and was perhaps an attempt at mimickry. 

 Occasionally, also, he blended in his harsher, scolding, or 

 querulous mewing call. 



This species, like the rest, build commonly a pensile nest 

 suspended by the upper edge of the two sides on the circular 



