FAMILY Vireonidz. — 
Red-eye have less syllables—if I may be allowed to call a 
single tone a syllable—and there are no sweeping tones 
like those of the Solitary. It is true that there are some 
notes exactly like the Red-eye’s, and others with an inflec- 
tion of voice reminiscent of the Solitary’s, but there is 
nothing more than that as far as resemblances go. The 
actual character of the song is better expressed in musi- 
cal terms, and it seems to me no other terms are adequate; 
the rhythm is widely interrupted, the tempo is moderato not 
agitato, at best the slurred notes show a comparatively 
short sweep compared with those of the Solitary and none 
of them show the staccato dots appearing in the song of the 
Red-eye (see page 151). 
Times ISnvar, leche. Wied See ee 
llegro moderato 
if F Gag 2 Wee eS 
fit leo 2S 
_7 Ge PI ae ae A ee 
Ee le $e 0 $n hf f 
mf. (4 
Al 
pee ee unique 
Then, the Philadelphia Vireo being the smallest of the 
family, very naturally the song is higher pitched, or, 
approximately a full major third above the average 
voice of the Red-eye. That is one of the differences 
between the songs of the Veery and Bicknell’s Thrush, 
the voice of the latter being almost invariably higher than 
that of the former. Mr. William Brewster writes of this 
Vireo’s song, ‘‘ But these differences are of a very subtile 
character and like most comparative ones they are not to 
be depended upon unless the two species can be heard 
together.’”’* The differences to which Mr. Brewster alludes 
are three; musical pitch, dynamics, and rhythm, all of 
these qualities can be and are shown on thé musical staff 
and that settles the matter of ‘‘differences’”’ whether 
subtile or not. Look at my records of the various Vireos’ 
songs, there are no two of them alike. Certainly such 
music requires attentive and critical study otherwise I do 
* Vide, The Auk, Vol. II., p. 5. 
294 
