124: NEWS FEOM THE BIRDS. 



he seem to say ? " Dear, de-a-r, this is pleasant, 

 13l-e-a-sant, swinging in the branches. The sun 

 shines so brightly, so-o b-r-i-i-ghtl-y-y-y ! I'm 

 so happy, hap-p-y-y, h-a-a-p-py ! " All this is 

 blended and woven together in a really won- 

 derful mesh of song. 



As a musician, however, he has a rival in 

 the red-eyed vireo, whose song is shorter, it is 

 true, but louder and more vigorous. This 

 bird is larger than our little friend just de- 

 scribed, and seems to like the company of 

 warblers in the autumn. Again and again I 

 have found a single red-eye flitting about in 

 the woods with an army of ^varblers, as if 

 he said : " I like these little tilters better than 

 my own kin ; I can agree with them better. 

 Sometimes one's own relatives are the hardest 

 to get along with." 



My jolly, nervous little friend, the white- 

 eyed vireo, does not take to the woods as do 

 his relatives, but selects low thickets where he 

 can hide himself when he wants to, sing his 

 rolling, earnest tunes, and build his nest in 

 some low sapling or bush. If you go too near 

 the home of these birds in the breeding season, 

 you will get the worst scolding you have ever 

 heard, as they dash about the bushes without 

 one bit of fear of being seen themselves, their 



