DIRECTORY TO BIRDS OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA. 267 



P. VIREOS. Vireonidae. 



Small, arboreal birds with large heads, and bills which 

 are strongly curved at tip ; rather deliberate in movement ; 

 food, insects, chiefly caterpillars; Fig. 354. 



colors, mostly plain ; nests sus- 

 pended from a forked twig of a 

 tree or bush ; eggs, white, usually 

 sparingly spotted. 



a. Wood Vireos. 



Vireosylva. 



Bill, rather prominent; wing 

 bands, absent ; white or pale yel- 

 low beneath. 



1. RED-EYED YIREO Y. 

 OLIVACEA. 6.25 ; top of head, 

 gray ; above, grayish-green ; white CC, O, a, 2. 1-6. 



beneath ; dark line through eye, whitish line over it, bordered 

 above by a black line ; iris, red, fig. 355. Breeds throughout 

 temperate N. A. from Fla. into the British Provinces; winters 

 in northern S. A. ; south in Sep. and Oct. ; north in April and 

 May. Frequents woodlands. Song, monotonous repititions 



of syllables; "Hear me, see me, 

 hear it, heed it; sweer William, 

 sweer it, tweet, tweet, tweet, 

 tweet" (quickly given but not 

 always following the other por- 

 tion) at the rate of 36 or more 

 in a minute; also the common 

 vireo scold. Very common. 



2. BLACK-WHISKERED 

 VIREO, Y. BARBATULA. Lar- 

 ger than 1 ; bill, longer ; grayer above ; dark lines on head not 

 as clear; a slight maxillary line of dusky. Breeds in the Ba- 

 hamas and southern Fla ; winters in the West Indies ; north 

 in April. Song, '''Whip torn kelley (a decided accent on the 



CC, P, a, 1. 



