THE VIREO FAMILY 57 
The female was lining and shaping the inside, 
and her mate working silky-looking strips from 
plants into the framework, and then covering 
the whole with lichens. He was so happy, he 
sang as he worked. 
The one of this family most widely spread over 
the country, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, is 
the Warsiinc Vireo. His song is the most 
agreeable of the vireo songs, being truly a war- 
ble of six or eight notes, of which one does not 
get tired. The dress of the Western warbling 
vireo is a little paler, but the habits and man- 
ners are about the same as those of his Eastern 
brother. 
Vireos were once common in the shade-trees 
of our city streets, and are still in some places 
where English sparrows have not taken every- 
thing, and boys are not allowed to throw stones 
or shoot. I know one city in Massachusetts 
where trees are very lovely and musical with yel- 
low-throats. 
We can still have these and other birds in our 
yards — we who do not live in the middle of a 
big city — by protecting them from cats and bad 
boys, and furnishing good places to nest. Mr. 
Lloyd Morgan tells of a garden near his own 
where there were fifty-three nests, besides swal- 
