VIREO OLIVACEUS : RED-EYED GREENLET. 195 



FAMILY VIREONID^ : GREENLETS. 



RED-EYED GREENLET. 

 VIREO OLIVACEUS (L.) V. 



Chars. Above, yellowish-olive, extending on sides of head and neck, 

 but not on the crown ; below, pure white, a little shaded along the 

 sides with greenish-yellow. Wings and tail dark, the feathers 

 edged with the color of the back ; no wing-bars. Crown ash, 

 contrasting with the color of the back, bounded with a blackish 

 stripe on each side, below which is a long whitish supraciliary 

 line ; beneath this the lore dusky. Bill dark plumbeous above, 

 pale horn-color below ; feet bluish-plumbeous ; eye red. Prima- 

 ries apparently only 9, the first being rudimentary, though always 

 discernible, and occasionally quite evident. Large for a Vireo, 

 rather trimly built, with slender hooked bill, and usually found 

 in good fair feathering at all seasons. Length about 6.00, though 

 ranging 575- 6 -5 \ extent, 9.75- IO -75 J wing, 3.00-3.40 ; tail, 2.25- 

 2.50 ; bill over 0.50 ; tarsus, 0.75. 



The Greenlets or Vireos form one of the several 

 leading families of New England birds in numbers of 

 species, others being those of the Thrushes, War- 

 blers, Swallows, and Finches. They are nearly all 

 numerous in individuals, and play no small part in the 

 life of the woods. The White-eye haunts shrubbery, 

 but the rest are sylvan birds of the high forest, the 

 park and orchard. All are summer residents in New 

 England ; all are migratory, insectivorous, and tuneful ; 

 all weave neat cup-like pensile nests, and lay white, 

 finely speckled eggs ; and all share many admirable 

 and agreeable traits of character. 



