The Song of the Philadelphia Vireo 95 



high in his chosen maple. I followed him around his small circle of trees, and 

 saw that, as he sang, another small bird attacked him several times. At last 

 he flew to a lower tree, where he was attacked again. The two birds fought 

 and flew, falling into tall grass not far from me. They stayed so long that I 

 stepped to see, when up they came, still fighting, and tried to alight in a low 

 tree near me, but fell again, this time upon bare ground not three feet from 

 where I stood. They did not heed me in the least. One at once stood very 

 erect, and as still as though frozen. The other took a threatening attitute 

 before it, with outstretched head and neck, and open beak, showing the scar- 

 let interior of the mouth, and in a moment began to sway the head and body 

 to right and left rigidly, still with open beak. I watched breathlessly. The 

 first bird kept its upright posture, thus allo^vang me to observe the decided 

 yellow of the breast, which was just what was needed to complete my satis- 

 faction that this was a pair of Philadelphia Vireos, in a lovers' quarrel. The 

 underparts of the other bird were hidden, but I knew it was the white-breasted 

 singer of the song that was nearly like that of the Red-eye. 



The birds were exactly alike above. The line over each eye was slightly 

 yellow, and there was no black crown border, as in the Red-eye. The birds, 

 always noticeably smaller than a Red-eye, looked more delicate than ever 

 now, as their feathers were held close to the body. 



After a long moment, the one that threatened flew away, and sang as soon 

 as he touched the branch. The yellow-breasted one went in another direc- 

 tion, and silently. 



The song was heard until near the end of June, almost constantly, though 

 at the last less frequently; and the rests between phrases were longer, and 

 sometimes only two phrases were repeated, one of them often having a liquid 

 quality. I think that I heard it a few times in August, but am not positive, 

 as I did not see the bird, which seemed to be at quite a distance. 



On August 20, on our blackberry bushes, eating the firuit, were two tiny 

 birds in close company, that at first I took for Warblers, but could not recog- 

 nize them. It suddenly came to me that they must be Philadelphia Vireos, 

 perhaps the young ones. They were softly yellow all below, a pretty greenish 

 above, had a yellow line over each eye, and very short, notched tails. They 

 really resembled the picture in the Revised Edition of Reed's Bird Guide 

 more than either of the two seen on the ground, on May 25. Those first 

 ones must have had the two extremes of color of the underparts. 



I have given these particulars so minutely because I have rarely seen the 

 Philadelphia Vireo named in Vermont bird-lists, and think that possibly some 

 one may benefit by my experience. Mr. Brewster, in a second letter says: 

 "Perhaps you will later find that this species is more commonly represented 

 than you are now aware." 



