5G6 



MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



spicuoLis materials. The eggs are three to five, most often four, and are 

 pure white, sparsely spotted with brown and black. They average .81 

 by .56 inches. Very frequently Cowbirds' eggs are found in the nest and 

 the Vireo frequently deserts its nest on account of this intruder. 



Wilson Flagg speaks of this bird as the "Preacher" and describes his 

 song as follows: "His style of preaching is not declamation. Though 

 constantly talking, he takes the part of a deliberative orator who explains 

 his subject in a few words and then makes a pause for his hearers to reflect 

 upon it. We might suppose him to be repeating moderately, with a pause 

 between each sentence 'you see it — you know it — do you hear me? — do you 

 believe it?' All these strains are delivered with a rising inflection at the 

 close and with a pause as if waiting for an answer." B cknell calls him 

 "a most untiring vocalist, maintaining his song almost uninterruptedly 



Fig. 133. Red-eyed Vireo on nest. 

 From Bird Lore. Courtesy of Frank M. Chapman. 



through the summer and only relinquishing it in September from the 

 first to the tenth." 



According to Ridgway "It is probable that we have no more beneficial 

 bird than this species, noxious and destructive insects of numerous kinds 

 constituting its principal food" (Birds of IlHnois, p. 182). All the vireos 

 are similar in their feeding habits and spend most of their time gleaning 

 insects from the foliage of shrubs and trees. Probably they consume 

 more spanworms and leaf-rollers than any other group of birds, but they 

 are not slow to avail themselves of any unusual supply of insects and 

 they eat beetles, bugs, and even grasshoppers apparently with equal 

 readiness and impartiality. Professor Aughey of Nebraska found that 

 during years of invasion by the Rocky Mountain locust the Red-eyed 

 Vireo ate the young hoppers very freely, four-fifths of its food at one time 

 consisting of this species. 



During the late summer and autumn the Red-eye eats seeds and berries 



