196 



VIREONID^ : GREENLETS. 



The commonest, best known, and most generally 

 distributed New England species of Vireo is the Red- 

 eye, whose voluble notes are heard all summer long 

 in the parks and streets of the cities as well as in the 

 most remote forests. It is a most persistent and tire- 

 less songster, whose earnest melody enlivens the sultry 

 noon, and the drowsy, listless after-hours of midsum- 

 mer days, which prove too much for the spirit of un- 

 willing school-boys, but seem to have no depressing 

 effect upon this indefatigable musician. The restless 

 bird comes to us early in May, and remains through 



Fio. 47. — Details of Strhcturk of Red-eved Greenlet. (Natural size. ) 



most of September ; in southerly places quite until 

 October. The nest is made about the first of June, and 

 the eggs are laid as soon as it is completed. There is 

 sometimes a second set, in July. The well-woven cup 

 is suspended from a forked twig ; it is felted of the 

 most miscellaneous materials, among which bark- 

 strips, pine-needles, bits of paper, and wasp-nest are 

 usually seen. Though the walls are thin, the structure 

 is compact, and so durable that it may last more than 

 one season ; it seems as if the materials were matted 

 or even pasted together. It is placed in a sapling or 

 other undergrowth of the forest, or in the orchard, or 

 along the roadside, and becomes very noticeable after 



