SPRING AREIVAL OF THE BIRDS. 39 



him : "Of all my feathered acquaintances this is my 

 favorite. I always loved it, and I can never look upon 

 one after it is killed without a sad feeling, as if it were 

 one of my own dear friends dead before me." The nests 

 of all the vireos are exquisitely fashioned, pensile, but 

 not swinHno;, 



The warbling vireos ( Vireo gihms) are common in the 

 city in summer, and are most excellent singers ; still, 

 perhaps, they are less known by people in general than 

 most any other summer resident. They are small and 

 inconspicuous in color, and their low, sweet voices do 

 not catch the unlistening ear. They arrive with the. 

 thrushes in May, and distribute themselves freely in 

 cities and villages, where they find abundant food in 

 larvaB and small insects on leaves of the shade trees. Of 

 all our city birds, the songs of the warbling vireos yield 

 me the purest and most exquisite pleasure. They mean 

 peace and joy and glad tidings. However worried with 

 business cares, or disturbed in other relations, I am 

 immediately put on good terms with surroundings by 

 this little optimist with the voice of an angel. That 

 soft, peaceful warble overhead among the green 

 branches, floating down in waves of melody, makes the 

 earth purer and brighter, and lifts the heart into the 

 regions of sunlight, awakening in the mind the kind- 

 est thoughts towards all creatures. Thoreau caught 

 the inspiration of the song and wrote : 



"Upon the lofty elm tree sprays 



The vireo sings the changes sweet 

 During the sultry summer days, 



Lifting men's tli oughts above the street/' 



