The Red-eyed Vireo 7 1 



THE RED-EYED VIREO 



Almost everywhere in the Eastern United 

 States and Canada, the red-eyed vireo is the 

 most common member of his family. The 

 only individual touch to his costume that helps 

 to distinguish him is a gray cap edged with a 

 black line which runs parallel to his conspicuous 

 white eyebrow. He wears a dull olive coat and 

 a white vest. But listen to the Preacher ! You 

 have no need to meet him face to face in order 

 to know him: " You see it — you know it — do you 

 hear me? — do you believe it?'' he propounds inces- 

 santly through the long summer days, even after 

 most other birds are silent. You cannot mistake 

 his voice. With a rising inflection at the end of 

 each short, jerky sentence, he asks a question 

 very distinctly and sweetly, then pauses an 

 instant as if waiting for a reply — an unusually 

 courteous orator. His monotonous monologue, 

 repeated over and over again, comes to us from 

 the elms and maples in the village street, the 

 orchard and woodland, where he keeps steadily 

 and deliberately at work. Some boys say they 

 can whittle better if they whistle. Vireos 

 seem to hunt more thoroughly if they sing. 



Like the rest of his kin, the red-eyed vireo is 

 quite tame. A little girl I know actually stroked 

 the pretty head of a mother bird as she sat 

 brooding in her exquisite nest, and a week later 



