180 NEWS FROM THE BIRDS. 



ing height I found the charming little prairie 

 warbler, with his bright yellow robe and black 

 stripes on his sides and cheeks. He is a dainty 

 birdlet, and his trill is a slender line of quiver- 

 ing sunshine swinging to and fro like a tiny 

 pendulum. Sometimes he repeats a straight 

 trill, slightly ascending in the scale ; at other 

 times his song is divided into two or three syl- 

 lables. There is a peculiar intoning about his 

 trills that distinguishes them from other war- 

 blers' rondeaus. There are times when they re- 

 semble somewhat the trill of the chippie, though 

 they have a more musical quality. No warblers, 

 save the yellow-breasted chats, were so abundant 

 among the mountains of Tennessee, and yet they 

 are called prairie warblers. I have never seen 

 them anywhere except in mountainous districts, 

 which shows that even in the bird world names 

 are sometimes misnomers. 



One of the quaintest birds found here 

 was the white-eyed vireo, his saucy outbursts 

 sounding so much like a challenge to com- 

 bat. No syllables can represent these sougs, 

 if songs they can be called. They seem to 

 be a disjointed succession of notes delivered 

 with so much labored effort that it threatens 

 to tear the minstrel's larynx to shreds. One 

 seen on the bushy side of a hill sang one 



