, 186 



SWINGING HOMES. 



Red-eyed Vireo 



Bringing with them the good cheer of the south, Red- 

 eyed Vireos return to northern United States about the mid- 

 dle of May. They are the most abundant of the vireos and 

 are also the most persistent songsters that we have. From 

 morn until night, song after song pours from their tireless 

 throats until at times, especially when one is listening to a 

 new or unusual song of some other bird, it becomes very ir- 

 ritating. The vireo song is a rather lazily whistled repeti- 

 tion of the word vireo with varying accents and modulations. 

 It is a song that readil}' lends itself for the imaginative per- 

 son to substitute numerous words and sentences ; delivered 

 in an intermittent, rambling, recitative manner that has 

 given it the local name of "preacher-bird". 



Vireos are among the most useful protectors of the foli- 

 age, — always busy ; most birds stop work and raise the head 

 to deliver their song but with this species, work and song 

 go hand in hand, even though he be hanging head-down 

 looking over the under surface of the leaves. 



Some of my pleasantest hours among birds were passed 

 at the home of a pair of Red-ej'ed Vireos, the one shown in 

 the accompanying illustrations. These birds had chosen for 

 their summer residences one of the prettiest places ever se- 

 lected by a pair of vireos. It was in a pleasant piece of 

 woods overlooking a beautiful lake. Not only were their 

 natural surroundings pleasant, but they had congenial 

 neighbors on every side, a fact that added greatly to my 

 pleasure. 



While sitting within my photographic tent, beside this 

 nest, I could, with my glasses, see all that happened at the 

 home of a pair of Redstarts about three hundred feet away. 

 About forty feet distant, in the vertical face of a gravel 

 pit, was the entrance to a tunnel leading to the home of a 

 pair of kingfishers. And within six feet of the edge of the 



