120 RED-EYED VIEEO 



golden sunset, and the bird's sweet, quavering 

 call had hardly died away when we were greeted 

 by the voice of one of the Sparrows we had come 

 to hear. He was perched on a stake in the 

 meadow beside the lane, and as we stopped to 

 listen poured out his beautiful vesper hymn. It 

 had scarcely ceased when it was taken up by an- 

 other of the rich- voiced choristers, and soon was 

 being sung by glad, sweet voices scattered far 

 through the meadows. In the stillness of the 

 hour, with the level fields reaching to the golden 

 horizon, the peaceful evening song seemed full of 

 new beauty, and we listened in silence to its calm, 

 melodious notes till the sunset afterglow faded 

 from the sky and the twilight shadows gathered 

 around us. 



Red-eyed Vireo : Vireo olivaceus. 

 (Fig. 63, p. 126.) 



Crown gray, bordered by black ; a conspicuous white line over the 

 eye; upper parts olive-green; under parts white. Length, 

 about 65 inches. 



GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION. Eastern North America; west- 

 ward to British Columbia ; breeds from the Gulf states to 

 Labrador and Manitoba ; winters in Central and South 

 America. 



If you listen carefully to the bird songs in vil- 

 lages, about country houses, or even in open wood- 

 lands, it will not be long before you distinguish 

 the voice of the Red-eye. His song is a monoto- 

 nous but cheerful monologue made up of short 



