190 WOOD NOTES WILD. 



Red-eyed Vireo. — Contin. 



of studying birds through Nature, and not through books. — Minot, H. D. : 

 Land-birds and Game-birds of N. E., p. 157. 



" It is a most persistent and tireless songster, whose earnest melody 

 enlivens the sultry noon and the drowsy, listless after-hours of mid- 

 summer days, which prove too much for the spirit of unwilliug school- 

 boys, but seem to have uo depressing effect upon this indefatigable 

 musician." — Stearns, W. A.: N. E. Bird-life, p. 196. 



" Everywhere in these States, at all hours of the day, from early dawn 

 until evening twilight, his sweet, half-plaintive, half-meditative carol is 

 heard. I know that I am not singular in my preference when I say 

 that of all my feathered acquaintances, this is the greatest favorite I 

 have." — Samuels, E. A. : Our Northern and Eastern Birds, p. 271. 



" In moist and dark summer weather, his voice seems to be one con- 

 tinued, untiring warble of exquisite sweetness ; and in the most populous 

 and noisy streets of Boston, his shrill and tender lay is commonly heard 

 from the tall elms." — Nuttall, T. : Manual of Ornithology, p. 354. 



See also Lunt, H. : Across Lots, p. 116. 



Energy expended in Bird-Song. 



The energy expended in the day-long singing of the 



vireo is a source of continuous wonderment. The Rev. 



J. G. Wood, a man well fitted to speak of indefatigable 



effort, has a passage on that prodigy of song, the English 



lark : — 



" The lark ascends until it looks no larger than a midge, and can with 

 difficulty be seen by the unaided eye, and yet every note will be clearly 

 audible to persons who are fully half a mile from the nest over which the 

 bird utters its song. Moreover, it never ceases to sing for a moment, a 

 feat which seems wonderful to us human beings, who find that a song of 

 six or seven minutes in length, though interspersed with rests and pauses, 

 is more than trying. Even a practised public speaker, though he can 

 pause at the end of each sentence, finds the applause of the audience a 

 very welcome relief. Moreover, the singer and speaker need to use no 

 exertion save exercising their voices. Yet the bird will pour out a continu- 

 ous song of nearly twenty minutes in length, and all the time has to support 

 itself in the air by the constant use of its wings." — Wood, Rev. J. G. 



