160 LAND-BIRDS. 



a limb, between four and twenty feet above the ground, in the 

 woods, in a shade tree, in an orchard tree, or occasionally in a 

 pine. It is small, and cup-shaped ; but, though very service- 

 able, is rarely very neatly made. It is constructed of strips 

 of thin bark, occasionally of that of the white birch, is lined 

 almost invariably with pine needles, where pines exist, and is 

 sometimes ornamented, if I may say so, with chips, bits of 

 newspaper or wasps' nests, and caterpillar's silk. It is fin- 

 ished here about the first of June ; and in the first week of 

 that month four or five * eggs are laid. These eggs average 

 .83 X .62 of an inch, and are white, with a few brownish 

 black spots at the larger end. A second set is sometimes 

 laid in July. 



c. When I announce that I am going to write about the 

 habits of one of our most familiar birds, and the most voluble 

 songster that we possess, who all through the day, when nearly 

 every other bird is quiet, prolongs his cheerful warble in almost 

 every grove, — sometimes even among the trees of our cities, 

 though such haunts he usually avoids, — many will know that 

 I refer to the Eed-eyed Vireo. These Vireos may be found 

 throughout New England in the latter part, if not nearly the 

 whole, of May, in the summer months, and in September. 

 They inhabit many kinds of woods, also gToves, and clumps or 

 rows of trees about houses, particularly those near wooded land. 



They show more familiarity to man than the other species, 

 except the Warbling Vireos, and are almost everywhere com- 

 mon and well known. They rarely pursue insects in the air 

 in the manner of the Flycatchers, but seize them as they them- 

 selves flutter among the branches of the trees, in which they 

 usually remain at no very great height from the ground. I 

 have noticed that the males, while the females are upon their 

 nests, generally select a spot at some distance from them, which 

 they make their haunt and concert-grove. They have never 

 struck me as very active insect-hunters, since they devote so 

 much of their time to music. They evidently, however, never 

 suffer from hunger, and they are certainly diligent in the 

 care of their young. They are very affectionate toward one 



* I have never known the nnmber to exceed fonr. — W. B. 



