6o BIRD-SONGS ABOUT WORCESTER. 



assuming, rather monotonous song at all 

 hours of the day, and far into the sum- 

 mer, long after most of the birds have 

 become silent. It is the elegant little nest 

 of this bird which the falling leaves reveal 

 to us in the autumn, suspended from the 

 forked branches of the maple-tree. Sam- 

 uels finds in the red-eyed vireo a favorite 

 bird. Of him he writes : — 



" I feel that no description of mine can begin 

 to do justice to the genial, happy, industrious 

 disposition of this one of our most common, 

 and perhaps best loved birds. From the time 

 of its arrival, about the first week in May, until 

 its departure, about the first week in October, it 

 is seen in the foliage of elms and other shade- 

 trees in the midst of our cities and villages, in 

 the apple-trees near the farm-houses, and in 

 the tall oaks and chestnuts in the deep forests. 

 Everywhere in the New England States, at all 

 hours of the day, from early dawn until evening 

 twilight, his sweet, half-plaintive, half-meditative 

 carol is heard. This consists of the syllables 

 ^7vee cheweo iiwrullct cheweeo, given in a singu- 

 larly sweet tone. I know that I am not singular 

 in my preference when I say that, of all my 

 feathered acquaintances, this is the greatest 



