The \\ hitc-Eyed Vireo 



Uy Juliii James Audubun 



This iiiUTcstii)g little bird enters the Slate of Louisiana often as early as 

 the first of March. Indeed, some individuals may now and then be seen a week 

 or ten days sooner provided the weather be mild. It throws itself into the 

 thickest part of the briars, sumachs and small evergreen bushes, which form 

 detached groves in abandoned fields, where its presence is at once known by 

 the smartness of its song. This song is composed of many difTerent notes emit- 

 ted with great spirit and a certain degree of pomposity, which makes it differ 

 materially from that of all other Vireos. It is frequently repeated during 

 the day. 



These birds become at once so abundant that it would be more ditlficult not 

 to meet one than to observe a dozen or more during a morning walk. Their 

 motions are as animated as their music. They pass from twig to twig, upward 

 or downward, examining every opening bud and leaf, and securing an adult 

 insect or a larva at every leap. Their flight is short, light and easy. 



Their migrations are performed during the day, and by passing from one 

 low bush to another. Like all our other visitors they move eatsward as the 

 season opens, and do not reach the middle States before the end of April or 

 the beginning of May. Notwithstanding this apparently slow progress, they 

 reach and disperse over a vast expanse of country. I have met with some in 

 every part of the United States which I have visited. 



Many remain in Louisiana, where they rear two broods, perhaps sometimes 

 three, in a season. Of this, however, I am not quite certain. I never saw them 

 alight on the ground, unless for the purpose of drinking or of procuring fibrous 

 roots for their nests. They are fond of sipping the dewdrops that hang at the 

 extremities of leaves- Their sorties after insects seldom extend beyond the 

 bushes. 



About the first of April the White-eyed \'ireo forms a nest of dry slender 

 twigs, broken pieces of grasses and portions of old hornets' nests, which have 

 so great a resemblance to paper that the nest appears as if studded with bits of 

 that substance. It is lined with fine fibrous roots and the dried filaments of the 

 Spanish moss. The nest is cup-shaped and pensile, and is fastened to two or 

 three twigs, or to a loop of a vine. The eggs are from four to five, of a pure 

 white, with a few dark spots near the larger end. In those districts where the 

 Cowbird is found it frequently drops one of its eggs among them. 



I have seen the first brood from the nest about the middle of May. Unless 

 disturbed while upon its nest, this bird is extremely sociable, and may be ap- 

 proached within a few feet, but when startled from the nest it displays the 

 anxiety common to all birds on such occasions. The difference of color in the 

 sexes is scarcely perceptible. 



The White-eyed Vireo is found through a large part of the United States^ 



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