204 



USEFUL BIUDS. 



■^c's^^^^" m 



Red-eyed Vireo. 



Virco oliracens. 

 Length. — Alioiit six inches. 

 Adult. — Upper parts grayish oliv^e-green, changing to gray on the crown ; a dark 



stripe on either side of the crown ; a light stripe over the eye, and dark 



streak from hill through eye : luider parts grayish-white, deepening to pale 



olive-yellow on the flanks ; iris ruhy-red. 

 Nest. — -A pensile cup; usually hung liy its upper edge from a fork, five to 



twenty- five feet from the ground. 

 Efjgs. — White, spotted with dark hrown at the larger end. 

 Sea-son. — May to September. 



The lied-eyed Vireo, although not so abundant as the 

 Rf)bin, is one of the most connnon and widely distributed 

 summer liirds. It l)reeds througliout the State. It is very 



devoted to its eggs and 

 young, and sits very closely 

 on the nest. The mother 

 bird will often alloAV a per- 

 son to walk by within arm's 

 lenjjth while she remains 

 quietly sitting. The par- 

 ent birds feed and protect 

 their young for a long time 

 after they leave the nest. 

 This Vireo s 1 c e ]^ s very 

 soundly ; soon after sunset and ])efore the shades of night 

 have fallen the mother bird on her nest tucks her head under 

 her wins:, and is sometimes so oblivious to the world that 

 she may be api)roached and taken in the hand. The Red- 

 eye is found wherever there are groups of deciduous trees, 

 or woodlands and thickets. Its movements as it slips about 

 among the branches are rather deliberate. It sings continu- 

 ally, but the song is intermittent, as though the bird were 

 singing incidentally as a pastime, like a boy whistling at his 

 work. The song is composed of phrases of a few^ syllables 

 each, and the manner of its delivery, with many rising and 

 some falling inflections and frequent pauses, led Wilson Flagg 

 to name the bird the " preacher." jNIaiiy years ago I learned 

 that the preacher had other business than his preaching, and 

 that he practised as he preached ; for it was through watching 



Fig. 71. — Red-eyed Vireo, natural size. 



