THE VIREOS 



"VT^OU know that if the birds should suddenly 

 "■■ perish, there wouldn't be a leaf, a blade of 

 grass, or any green thing left upon the earth 

 within a few years — it would be uninhabitable. 

 When Dame Nature, the most thorough of 

 housekeepers, gave to the birds the task of 

 restraining insects within bounds so that man 

 and beast could live, she gave the care of foliage 

 to the vireos. It is true that most of the war- 

 blers, and a few other birds too, hunt for their 

 food among the leaves, but with nothing like 

 the vireo's painstaking care and thoroughness. 

 The nervous, restless warblers flit from twig 

 to twig without half exploring the foliage; 

 whereas the dehberate, methodical vireos search 

 leisurely above and below it, cocking their little 

 heads so as to look up at the under side of the 

 leaf above them and to peck off the destroyers 

 hidden there — bugs of many kinds and count- 

 less little worms, caterpillars, weevils, inch- 

 worms, May beetles, and leaf-eating beetles. 

 Singing as they go, no birds more successfully 

 combine work and play. 



Because they spend their lives among the 



foliage, the vireos are protectively coloured ; with 



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