18 



About the middle of April, our woods 

 may resound with a lazy, drawling 

 bird song, — a "per-e-o, per-e-a" repeat- 

 ed intermittantly with a slight under- 

 tone, often interspersed with a silvery 

 little trill and perhaps ending with a 

 series of petulant rasping notes. It 

 means that SOLITARY or BLUE- 

 HEADED VIREOS have arrived. Dur- 

 ing migration they may often be seen 

 in orchards as well as in the woods, but 

 when the nesting season comes, if we 

 would see them, we must go to their 

 haunts in remote or swampy woods. 

 None of our Vireos, except the White- 

 throated, are timid, but this species Is 

 the most fearless of all. They pay lit- 

 tle attention to your presence at any 

 time and when nesting tliey have sev- 

 eral times allowed me to approach 

 closely enough to stroke the back of 

 the sitting bird. The nest, which is a 

 basket of strips of bark, cobwebs, moss 

 and fine rootlets, is swung from the 

 fork of a bush or sapling. The three 

 or four eggs are creamy-white with a 

 few reddish-brown specks about the 

 large end. 



middle of the back; below, they are yellow, with a more or 

 less distinct band of brownish spots on the chest. When 

 they first arrive we may see them and hear their lisping 

 trills in orchard or woodland trees; at this season they are 

 most abundant in the tops of young oaks. Later they re- 

 tire to many of our swamps, — those containing dead trees 

 that are festooned with Usnea moss. Their nests are made 

 by turning up the ends of some of this hanging moss and 

 lining the hollow so formed with hair. 



Of the five species of vireos which are commonly found 

 in our range, the RED-EYED VIREO is the most abund- 

 ant. All through spring and summer months, the song of 

 the Red-eye is one of the most familiar sounds of woodland. 

 It is a deliberate but incessant series of phrases uttered in 

 a colloquial manner with a short pause between each, — 

 described aptly by Wilson Flagg as, "You see it — you know 

 it — do you hear me.^ — do you believe it?" This species 

 usually swings its basket-like nest at low elevations from 

 forks in bushes that comprise the undergro^vth of wood- 

 land. The Red-eye can easily be identified since it has a 

 light stripe over the eye and a blackish edge to the gray 

 crown. 



