PHILADELPHIA V1REO. 



not see how we can arrive at any scientific truth. Mr. 

 Brewster's word description of the song is, in general, 

 correct but in the last analysis it must be admitted it is 

 not scientific in respect of music. I am on the other hand 

 delighted with the charmingly truthful and withal naive 

 opinions of Mr. Torrey about this Vireo's song. He writes : 

 "The measures are all brief, with fewer syllables, that is to 

 say, than the Red-eye commonly uses. Some of them are 

 exactly like the Red-eye's, while others have the peculiar, 

 sweet upward inflection of the Solitary's. ... At the 

 same time, he has not the most highly characteristic of 

 the Solitary's phrases " (to understand precisely what Mr. 

 Torrey alludes to read my little musical notation on page 

 161). "His voice is less sharp and his accent less emphatic 

 than the Red-eye's, and so far as we heard, he observed 

 decidedly longer rests between the measures" (note my 

 dotted whole rest). "On the whole, the song of the 

 Philadelphia Vireo comes nearest to the Red-eye's, differ- 

 ing from it mainly in tone and inflection rather than in 

 form. In these two respects it suggests the Solitary 

 Vireo, though it never reproduces the indescribably sweet 

 cadence, the real 'dying fall/ of that most delightful 

 songster" (see again, my notation on page 161). "On 

 going again to Franconia a year afterward, and naturally 

 keeping my ears open for Vireosylva philadelphica I dis- 

 covered that I was never for a moment in doubt when I 

 heard a Red-eye; but once, on listening to a distant Soli- 

 tary, catching only part of the strain I was for a little 

 quite uncertain whether he might not be the bird for which 

 I was looking. How this fact is to be explained I am 

 unable to say; ... at all events I think it is worth record- 

 ing as affording a possible clue to some future observer."* 

 Years later it was my privilege to hear this Vireo sing in the 

 same region where Mr. Torrey heard it, and I have found 

 his analysis of the song absolutely correct. A keen listener 

 upon first hearing the Philadelphia Vireo sing will wonder 

 what is the matter with the Red-eye! Then, being quite 

 familiar with the Solitary's song, he will listen in vain for 

 the unmistakable "ear marks" of the Solitary, and finally 



* Vide. The Footpath Way, pp. ii-ij. 



295 



