FAMILY Vlreonida. 



more deliberate in character and action. They arc, like 

 the Warblers, great insect dot rovers. It is very signi- 

 ficant in view of tin- diU'en-nees between the two classes 

 of birds that the Vireos almost invariably sing in alle- 

 gro and the Warblers in presto time, that the voices of 

 the tiny Warblers are weak, thin, and pitched very high, 

 and that those of the more robust Vireos are louder and 

 pitched much lower. 



The Red-eyed Vireo is one of the commonest of birds, 

 and is easily recognized by his intermittent song. I ! is 

 in every orchard, along every highway and by wa\ . and 

 on the margin of every wooded hill throughout the 

 country. His crown is dark gray margined by an al- 

 most black line sharply contrasted with a white one 

 directly over the eye; the iris is reddish; upper part of 

 wings (with no wing-bars) light brownish olive; under 

 parts white or yellower white as the season is advanced. 

 Female similar in coloring. The nest is pensile and 

 woven of dried grasses and the shredded stems or 

 branches of weeds; plant down, bits of paper,* and 

 birch-bark are also often used in its construction. About 

 one half of the edge of the nest is attached to some forked 

 limb anywhere from five to thirty (or rarely more) feet 

 high. Egg white, sparingly flecked with umber or sepia. 

 The range of this Vireo is throughout eastern North 

 America; it winters in Central and South America. 



There is no bird song more easily traced to its source 

 after a little experience with the roadside songsters than 

 this one. It is not necessary to leave the road to find the 

 singer, he will surely be directly overhead or on the 

 other side of the way before one has walked five minutes; 

 he is omnipresent, persistently loquacious, indefatigable, 

 and irrepressible! He has something to say at all times 

 and under all circumstances, and one may absolutely 

 rely upon his having the last word unless the matter is 

 settled with a gun! He is a restless fellow and is seldom 

 in one place for more than a few seconds at a time. All 

 through the long summer day he sings his rhythmically 



* A young lady once showed me a nest belonging to h*-r < 

 in which was woven a bit of newspaper with the print in plain 

 siht; it read or part of it did " front door this side." 



150 



