206 Sketches of Some Common Birds. 



WAEBLING VIKEO. 



Persons whose ears are not indifferent to the sounds 

 which greet them in their passage under tall maples and 

 spreading elms of the highways, have often heard with 

 pleasure the charming notes of the warbling vireo, though 

 perhaps they have not all learned to identify the modest 

 little songster. The vireos are somewhat diflS.cult to dis- 

 cover in their leafy haunts, for the colors of their upper 

 parts closely resemble the deep green of the foliage amid 

 wliich they sit or hop in their quest for lurking insects. 

 Having dark olive green on the upper parts of their 

 plumage, they are styled "greenlets," and the lightly 

 shaded white of their under parts renders them so nearly 

 like the mingled foliage and shadow that the untrained 

 observer seldom spends much time in trying to distinguish 

 them. If it were not for the noticeable, sympathetic 

 warble of this vireo, the emphatic, monitory notes of the 

 red-eyed species, and the delicate baskets which they 

 swing from twigs and which attract notice when the 

 leaves fall and cease to hide them from view, these two 

 common representatives of the group might pass unnoticed 

 except by the most observing students of bird-life. The 

 sweetly sympathetic lays of the warbling vireo are very 

 acceptable accompaniments to the louder, similar lyrics 

 of the rose-breasted grosbeak and the richer, joyful meas- 

 ures of the Baltimore oriole; and the gentle little author 

 of the melodious expressions of contentment and satis- 

 faction should not rank among the least known of the 

 species which visit us and dwell among us. 



The different species of vireos, like the various members 

 of the flycatcher group, are frequently confused by the 

 general observer, and hence they are not so well known 

 as their charming manners and pleasing characteristics 

 merit. The five species of vireos which find a summer 

 home throughout Illinois in favorable localities, however, 

 have such well-defined resorts and such marked individ- 

 ual traits that the acute bird-gazer can readily learn to 

 separate them and then form their acquaintance as dis- 

 tinctive members of the vireo family. One of the five, 



