PHILADELPHIA VIREO. 
not see how we can arrive at any scientific truth. Mx. 
Brewster’s word description of the song is, in general, 
correct but in the last analysis it must be admitted it is 
not scientific in respect of music. J am on the other hand 
delighted with the charmingly truthful and withal naive 
opinions of Mr. Torrey about this Vireo’ssong. He writes: 
‘“The measures are all brief, with fewer syllables, that is to 
say, than the Red-eye commonly uses. Some of them are 
exactly like the Red-eye’s, while others have the peculiar, 
sweet upward inflection of the Solitary’s.... At the 
same time, he has not the most highly characteristic of 
the Solitary’s phrases” (to understand precisely what Mr. 
Torrey alludes to read my little musical notation on page 
161). ‘‘His voice is less sharp and his accent less emphatic 
than the Red-eye’s, and so far as we heard, he observed 
decidedly longer rests between the measures”? (note my 
dotted whole rest). ‘“‘On the whole, the song of the 
Philadelphia Vireo comes nearest to the Red-eye’s, differ- 
ing from it mainly in tone and inflection rather than in 
form. In these two respects it suggests the Solitary 
Vireo, though it never reproduces the indescribably sweet 
cadence, the real ‘dying fall,’ of that most delightful 
songster”’ (see again, my notation on page 161). ‘On 
going again to Franconia a year afterward, and naturally 
keeping my ears open for Vireosylva philadelphica I dis- 
covered that I was never for a moment in doubt when I 
heard a Red-eye; but once, on listening to a distant Soli- 
tary,—catching only part of the strain—I was for a little 
quite uncertain whether he might not be the bird for which 
I was looking. How this fact is to be explained I am 
unable to say; . . . at all events I think it is worth record- 
ing as affording a possible clue to some future observer.’’* 
Years later it was my privilege to hear this Vireo sing in the 
same region where Mr. Torrey heard it, and I have found 
his analysis of the song absolutely correct. A keen listener 
upon first hearing the Philadelphia Vireo sing will wonder 
what is the matter with the Red-eye! Then, being quite 
familiar with the Solitary’s song, he will listen in vain for 
the unmistakable ‘‘ear marks”’ of the Solitary, and finally 
* Vide, The Footpath Way, pp. 11-13. 
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