A BI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE 

 DEVOTED TO THE STUDY AND PROTECTION OF BIRDS 



Official Organ of the Audubon Socictics 



Vol. VI July — August, 1904 No. 4 



Red -eyed Vireos, Awake and Asleep 



By FRANCIS H. HERRICK 



With photographs from nature by the author 



THOUGH commonly sh}^ and retiring, wild birds are not always dif- 

 ficult to approach, and one is often reminded of their marked 

 individuality by finding a pair which are comparatively tame. The 

 female, to be sure, usually displays the greater confidence, at least within 

 the magnetic influence of nest and young. 



This was the case with the Red -eyed Vireos, whose nest was discovered 

 by the sharp eyes of a child four years old, in a maple tree beside a house 

 and close to a well-trodden path. The child had made no mistake, for there 

 on the nest sat the mother- bird. When we saw her half rise to her feet 

 every little while, and with head depressed examine something with eager 

 attention, then we knew there were young birds, for it was the twenty- 

 eighth of June. By the aid of a mirror we were soon watching three little 

 Vireos, which had just emerged from their shells. The old bird would 

 follow closely every movement of the pole, and flit off quietly only when 

 the glass nearly touched her head. 



For four days the mother brooded almost continuously. She would sit 

 for ten or fifteen minutes, go oi^ without a sound, and in a moment return 

 warbling to the twig, bringing a gray caterpillar or a snow-white moth; 

 then we noticed the cocoons and green larvae of insects, spiders, and, later, 

 small dragon -flies. As she hopped along the slender spray and stood erect 

 over her nest, three delicate heads on skinny necks were quickly upraised, 

 trembling like tuning forks, presenting as many yellow targets to the aim 

 of the parent, who tucked deep into the throat of each the destined food. 

 After examining and cleaning the nest, brooding was again resumed. Life 

 seemed to move in an orderly routine like clockwork, varied, to be sure, by 

 casual events, such as the approach of the male or a change in the weather. 

 The eyes began to open on the fourth day, when the first faint cheeps of 

 the young were audible at a distance of a few feet. 



