/ 
the earnest, voluble strain of the red-eye—in 
the tender secret that the warbling vireo con- 
fides in whispers to the passing breeze—he is 
insensible who does not hear the echo of 
thoughts he never clothes in words.”’ 
The two that arrived at this time were the 
red-eyed and the warbling vireos, the two most 
abundant and most popular species. 
At this time I noted the arrival of one of the 
more famous finch songsters. In one of my 
walks I caught sight of a large bird (compara- 
tively, for my eyes had been full of warblers 
during the preceding days), characterized by 
unusual black and white markings. With dif- 
ficulty I followed it through the trees, and as it 
perched and graciously turned toward me, I saw 
a large crimson patch on the breast, beautiful of 
itself, and doubly so to me as the mark of a bird 
I had never been able to see before, but of great 
reputation—the rose-breasted grosbeak, one 
of the handsomest and most musical of the fam- 
ily. It was in its mature and richest plumage, 
and as it hopped from branch to branch, feeding 
upon the pendant catkins, it kept up a contin- 
uous warble, which might be described as the 
combination of the songs of a rich-voiced robin 
and of the goldfinch. Some writer has said 
May 
163 
