136 



CHATTERERS. 



and perfect state, and while so engaged they often enliven the neighbourhood 

 with their sprightly song, which, however, consists of but a few notes. Their 

 nest is small, sometimes pendulous between two twigs, placed not very far from 

 the ground. It is composed of fragments of withered leaves, vine, bark, flax, 

 and other materials, all glued with the saliva of the bird, and bound together 



Fig. 72. — The Greenlet (V'lreo virescens). 



with the silk of caterpillars so firmly as to resist the effect of the weather. 

 Other species build their nests upon the upper side of the limb of a tree, or 

 sometimes among the twigs at the end of a horizontal branch, and construct 

 it of a variety of vegetable substances. The eggs are usually four or five in 

 number. 



FAMILY IV. 



THE CHATTERERS. AMPELID^. 



General Characteristics.— Bill moderate, more or less broad at the base and more 

 or less depressed, with the sides gradually compressed to the tip, which is emargi- 

 nated ; the wings long and generally rounded ; the tail moderate, and usually even 

 at the end ; the tarsi generally short and slender ; the toes moderate, with the outer 

 more or less united to the base of the middle one ; the claws short and curved. 



In the members of this family, the notches characteristic of the 

 Dentirostral birds, though small, are always distinctly to be seen 



