WARBLING VIREO. 131 



XXXVII. 



WARBLING VIREO. 



THE warbling is the smallest of the three vireos. 

 Its back is grayish olive, and its breast is tinged 

 with yellow. It may be distinguished from the 

 others by his song. 



Dr. Brewer says : " This vireo ... is to a 

 large extent a resident of villages, towns, and 

 even cities. It is by far the sweetest singer that 

 ventures within their crowded streets and public 

 squares, . . . and the melody of its song is ex- 

 quisitely soft and beautiful. It is chiefly to be 

 found among the tall trees, in the vicinity of dwell- 

 ings, where it seems to delight to stay, and from 

 their highest tops to suspend its pensile nest. It 

 is especially abundant among the elms on Boston 

 Common." 



By reason of their dainty coats and shapely forms, 

 their pretty ways and their repose of manner, the 

 vireos remind one most forcibly of the waxwings. 



Birds naturally group themselves by occupation, 

 and, as a Darwinian corollary, by coloring. The 

 sparrows spend most of their time on the ground 

 searching for seeds, and are protected by their 

 earth-colored suits ; the woodpeckers live clinging 

 to tree trunks, and many of them are disguised by 

 their likeness to the bark ; the flycatchers take 

 their living from the insects that swarm in the 



