Red- Eyed Vireo. ' 239 



swinging its fibrous basket above our frequented streets, 

 and its services to vegetation strongly recommend it to 

 our personal acquaintance and friendship. 



While the charming little red-eyed vireo is worthy of 

 our study, he does not like to be watched. When we try 

 to observe him closely, he will move from his perch, gen- 

 erally near the extremity of a branch in the upper part of 

 the foliage, and take a similar position higher or in an 

 adjacent tree. As we listen to his song we peer up into 

 the foliage to obtain a glimpse of the earnest musician, 

 whom we perhaps see industriously gleaning among the 

 fresh buds as if the thought of singing had never entered 

 his mind. While he is bending over his lunch we hear 

 the song again, and as he lifts his head we are able to note 

 something of his appearance. His upper parts are dark 

 olive green and his lower parts principally white, mark- 

 ings so common to many of the smaller birds that it is 

 difficult to identify them at a distance and amid the envi- 

 ronments which obscure the colors of their plumage. 

 The red color of the iris of this vireo serves to distinguish 

 it from the other greenlets, when it is examined under 

 favorable circumstances. The bird is scarcely over six 

 inches in length, and its markings are assimilated so 

 closely with the dark green of the foliage that it is always 

 difficult to discover the little creature when we hear the 

 song. From the action of the little vocalist, the bird- 

 gazer would not connect him with the music heard, for 

 all the while he is apparently interested solely in procur- 

 ing a meal from the adjacent bark and buds ; and even 

 while his head is bent down to pull a dainty morsel into 

 the light, his emphatic notes are uttered. 



The song of the red-eyed vireo is short, but one produc- 

 tion is generally followed by another after only a short 

 pause. It consists of four or five notes, uttered in urgent, 

 monitory style, and repeated at short intervals through- 

 out the day. Often the voice of the red-eyed vireo is the 

 only one heard during the noon hour, when the heat has 

 silenced the voices of all the other songsters. In short, 

 emphatic sentences he seems to admonish us with parental 

 interest, and from this quality of his song he has been 

 characterized as the " preacher " by Wilson Flagg, whose 



