334 THE MOUNTAIN. 



quaint but very melodious warble, lengthened in the spring 

 into a cheerful and agreeable song."* 



YIREO Flavifrons, yellow- throated vireo. This lively little 

 bird is found in the forests of the mountain. He arrives in 

 May, and is soon seen, a restless hunter, hurrying busily 

 around the twigs of the trees in pursuit of his prey, which at 

 this season is principally composed of insects and worms. His 

 voice is soon heard, and his notes form one of the most pecu- 

 liar and exquisite of the songs of the woods. In the words of 

 one of his biographers : " In the warm weather, the lay of 

 this bird is indeed peculiarly strong and lively; and his 

 usually long-drawn, almost plaintive notes are now delivered 

 in fine succession, with a peculiar echoing and highly-impres- 

 sive musical cadence ; appearing like a romantic and tender 

 reverie of delight." Toward the middle of September he 

 leaves for the south. He is an exceedingly interesting little 

 musician, and his song silenced, one of the sweetest at- 

 tractions of the grove is gone. Their curious pendent 

 nests, woven with great skill from the branch of some forest 

 tree, may be seen in numbers when the leaves have fallen. 

 The workmanship of these frail air-baskets or sacks is quite 

 wonderful. "It is attached firmly all round the curving 

 twigs by which it is supported ; the stoutest external ma- 

 terials, or skeleton of the fabric, is formed of interlaced folds 

 of thin strips of red cedar (any flexible) bark, connected 

 very intimately by coarse threads and small masses of the 

 silk of spider's nest, and of the cocoons of large moths ; 

 these threads are moistened by the glutinous saliva of the 

 bird. Among these external materials are also blended fine 

 blades of dry grass. The inside is thickly bedded with this 

 last material and fine root-fibres, but the finishing layer, as 

 if to preserve elasticity, is of rather coarse grass stalks. 

 Externally the nest is coated over with green lichens, at- 

 tached very artfully by slender strings of caterpillar's silk, 



* Birds of America, Cassin. 



