THE WESTERN WARBLING \'lREO. 



361 



Authorities. — ':! I'irco (/ilziis, Townscnd, Jourii. Ac. Xat. Sci. I'hila., \'I1I. 

 1839. p. 153 I Columbia River j. I'irco gilvus (sicaiiisonii ])roposeil|, Baird, 

 Rep. I'ac. R. R. Surv.. IX. pt. II. 1858, 336. T. C&S. L. Rh. D-. Ra. 1)^. J. B. E. 



Specimens. — U. of W. Prov. R. ]1X. E. 



THE old-fashioned name "Greenlet," as applied to the Vireos, was a mis- 

 nomer, if a description of plumage was intended; but if it was intended to 

 memorialize the bird's fondness for greenery, nothing could have been more 

 apt. The Warbling Vireo's surroundings must be not only green, but freshly 

 green, for it frequents only deciduous trees in groves and riverside copses. It 

 is not an abundant bird, therefore, in AV'ashington. altho equally distributed, 

 whether in the willows and birches which gather about some lonesome spring 

 in the bunch-grass country, or among the crowded alders and majjles of the 

 turbid Nooksachk. Moreover, the bird is not so frequently found about parks 

 and shade trees as in the East, altho it looks with strong favor upon the advent 

 of orchards. And the orchardist may welcome him with o])en arms, for there 

 is not among all his tenants a more indefatigable gleaner of bugs and worms. 

 Because he is clad in Quaker gray there is little need for the \'ireo to show 

 himself as he sings, and he remains for the most part concealed in the dense 

 foliage, a vocal embodiment of the living green. Unlike the disconnected 

 fragments which the Red-eye furnishes, the song of this bird is gushing and 

 continuous, a ra])id excursion over pleasant hills and valleys. Continuous, that 

 is, luiless the bright-eyed singer happens to spy a worm in nicdias res. in which 

 event the song is instantly suspended, to be resumed a moment later when the 

 wriggling tid-bit has been dispatched. 

 The notes are flute-like, tender, and 

 melodious, having, as Chapman says, 

 "a singular alto under- 

 tone." All hours of the 

 day are recognized as ap- 

 propriate to melody, and 

 the song jjeriod lasts from 

 the time of the bird's 

 arrival, early in 'Slay, 

 until its departure in Sep- 

 tember, with only a brief 

 hiatus in July. 



In sharp contrast with 

 the beautiful canzonettes 

 which the bird showers 

 down from the treetops, 

 come the Jiarsli. wren-Iike western w.xrbi.ing \ikeo at nicst. 



Pl-OtO bjr 



Bohlman 



and Finlcy. 



