The White-eyed Vireo 73 



TiOsS wMte-eyed vireo is the most common bird 

 ^o be seen. His sweet, vigorous, irregular 

 interrogation may be heard all day. But there 

 he is known by quite a different name — " Chick 

 of the Village. ' ' It was a pleasant shock to hear, 

 ''Now, who are you, ehf'^ piquantly sung out at 

 me, a stranger in the islands, by this old ac- 

 quaintance in a hibiscus bush within a few steps 

 of the pier where the steamer landed. 



In the United States where he nests, his 

 manners are less sociable; in fact they are 

 rather pert, even churlish at times, and never 

 very friendly. Here he loves to hide in such 

 low, briery, bushy tangles as the chat and 

 catbird choose. By no stretch of the imagin- 

 ation would his chic Bermuda name fit him 

 here, for he has little to do with villages and he 

 resents your advances toward more intimate 

 acquaintance with harsh, cackling scoldings, 

 half to himself, half to you, until you, in turn, 

 resent his impertinence and leave him alone — 

 just what the independent little fellow wanted. 

 He has a strong, decided character, you perceive. 



His precious nest, so jealously guarded, is 

 a deeper cup than that of his cousin with the 

 red eye, deeper than that of any of the other 

 vireos, and it usually contains three favourite 

 materials in addition to those generally chosen 

 by them: they are bits of wood usually stolen 

 from some woodpecker's hole, shreds of paper. 



