THE WARBLING VIREO. 



HE Vireos are a family of 

 singers and are more often 

 heard than seen, but the 

 Warbler has a much more 

 musical 'voice, and of greater compass 

 than any other member of the family. 

 The song ripples like a brook, float- 

 ing down from the leanest tree-tops. It 

 is not much to look at, being quite 

 plainly dressed in contrast with the 

 red-eyed cousin, the largest of the 

 Vireos. In nesting time it prefers 

 seclusion, though in the spring and 

 mid-summer, when the little ones have 

 flown, and nesting cares have ceased, it 

 frequents the garden, singing in the 

 elms and birches, and other tall trees. 

 It rambles as well through the foliage 

 of trees in open woodland, in parks, 

 and in those along the banks of 

 streams, where it diligently searches 

 the under side of leaves and branches 

 for insect life, " in that near-sighted 

 way peculiar to the tribe." It is a 

 very stoic among birds, and seems 

 never surprised at anything, " even at 

 the loud report of a gun, with the shot 

 rattling about it in the branches, and, 

 if uninjured, it will stand for a moment 

 unconcerned, or move along, peering 

 on every side amongst the foliage, 

 warbling its tender, liquid strains. " 



The nest of this species is like that 

 of the Red-eyed Vireo a strong, 



durable, basket-like fabric, made of 

 bark strips, lined with fine grasses. 

 It is suspended by the brim in slender, 

 horizontal forks of branches, at a great 

 height from the ground. 



The Vireo is especially numerous 

 among the elms of Boston Common, 

 where at almost any hour of the day, 

 from early in the month of May, until 

 long after summer has gone, may be 

 heard the prolonged notes of the 

 Warbling species, which was an 

 especial favorite of Dr. Thomas M. 

 Brewer, author of " History of North 

 American Birds." Its voice is not 

 powerful, but its melody, it is said, is 

 flute-like and tender, and its song is 

 perhaps characterized more by its air 

 of happy contentment, than by any 

 other special quality. No writer on 

 birds has grown enthusiastic on the 

 subject, and Bradford Torrey alone 

 among them does it scant justice, 

 when he says this Vireo " is admirably 

 named ; there is no one of our 

 birds that can more properly be said 

 to warble. He keeps further from the 

 ground than the others, and shows a 

 strong preference for the elms of 

 village streets, out of which his 

 delicious music drops upon the ears of 

 all passers underneath. How many of 

 them hear it and thank the singer, is 

 unhappily another question." 



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