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a2 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 
“The whole is delivered almost without any sensible interval, 
with earnest animation, in a pathetic, tender, and pleasing strain, 
well calculated to produce calm and thoughtful reflection in the 
sensitive mind. Yet, while this heavenly reverie strikes on 
the human ear with such peculiar effect, the humble musician 
himself seems but little concerned: for all the while, perhaps, that 
this flowing chorus enchants the hearer, he is casually hopping 
from spray to spray in quest of his active or crawling prey; and, 
if a cessation occurs in his almost untiring lay, it is occasioned by 
the caterpillar or fly he has fortunately just captured. So unaf- 
fected are these delightful efforts of instinct, and so unconscious is 
the performer, apparently, of this pleasing faculty bestowed upon 
him by nature, that he may truly be considered as a messenger of 
harmony to man alone, appointed by the fiat of the Creative 
power. Wantonly to destroy these delightful aids to sentimental 
happiness ought therefore to be viewed, not only as an act of bar- 
barity, but almost as a sacrilege.” 
The Red-eyed Vireo commences building about the first 
week in June, frequenting the woods rather more commonly 
than the pastures and orchards, although it often breeds in 
these places. The nest is pensile, and is hung from the 
fork of a small limb of a tree, seldom more than fifteen or 
twenty feet from the ground: it is constructed of thin strips 
of cedar bark, pieces of wasps’ nests, spiders’ nests, pieces of 
caterpillars’ silk, and other pliable materials. These are 
woven together neatly and compactly, and agglutinated 
together by the bird’s saliva. It is suspended in the form 
of a basket from the forked twig to which it is attached, or 
rather sewed firmly. It is lined with narrow strips of 
grape-vine bark, pine leaves, and sometimes fine grass. On 
the outside are often visible bits of rotten wood, fragments 
of newspapers, and hornet’s nests. One specimen in my col- 
lection, obtained in Maine, is constructed almost entirely of 
pieces of the bark of the white birch: it is a very neat 
fabric. The eggs are four in number, pure-white in color, 
and thinly spotted, chiefly at the great end, with dots of 
