THE WARBLERS AND THE VIREOS. 119 



THE VIREOS, OR GREENLETS. 



The vireos, or greenlets, are universally recognized as 

 among the sweetest of feathered songsters. They are small 

 birds, modest in manners and dress, very different from the 

 shrikes, to which the ornithologists state that they are closely 

 related. This is exclusively a New World family, composed 

 of half a dozen genera and a little over half a hundred spe- 

 cies : only one of the former, the genus Vireo, and thirteen 

 of the latter occur in the United States. Of these thirteen 

 species about half are common over a considerable area. In 

 color our forms are mostly greenish olive or gray above and 

 white or yellow below. They build slightly pendent nests in 

 trees, migrate southward in autumn, and are almost exclu- 

 sively insectivorous. They are more often heard than seen. 

 " Clad in simple tints that harmonize with the verdure," 

 writes Dr. Coues, "these gentle songsters warble their lays 

 unseen, while the foliage itself seems stirred to music. In 

 the quaint and curious ditty of the white-eye, in the earnest, 

 voluble strains of the red-eye, in the tender secret that the 

 warbling vireo confides in whispers to the passing breeze, he 

 is insensible who does not hear the echo of thoughts he never 

 clothes in words. 11 



The Red-eyed Vireo seems to be the most abundant and 

 widely distributed species of the genus. It is found in all 

 the States except those of the extreme West, and in summer 

 sometimes migrates as far north as Greenland. It prefers 

 woodlands to the cultivated fields, but frequently finds its 

 way to parks and orchards. It commonly seeks its food 

 among the foliage and branches of trees and shrubs, some- 

 times chasing moths and other flying insects for short dis- 

 tances on the wing. It is universally recognized as a great in- 

 sect-eater. An excellent idea of its food may be obtained from 

 Professor King's studies of fifty-four Wisconsin specimens: 

 " From the stomachs of eighteen of this species were taken 



