Song Birds and Water Fowl 



in my haste, I declared him to be the hand- 

 somest of the family of vireos, an assertion 

 which, in my cooler judgment, I retract ; for 

 the yellow - throated vireo must doubtless be 

 called the beauty, in this modestly dressy fam- 

 ily. The " white-eyed " is just hke some peo- 

 ple, whose vivacity lights up with an actual 

 beauty features that are almost homely in re- 

 pose. With all the difference in modulation 

 of the voice, there is a peculiar rich and ring- 

 ing quality of tone common to all the vireos. 

 The red-eyed species is a valuable addition to 

 our woods, from the fact that his continuous 

 message forms so large a part of the entire vol- 

 ume of music throughout the day, and the 

 summer long. His native acid disposition, 

 however, is unmistakable in his call-notes, one 

 of which is very similar to the catbird's snarl. 



The great crested flycatcher, a rather soli- 

 tary bird by nature, and the largest of that 

 family that stands in scientific odium under the 

 technical name of Tyrannidae, was particu- 

 larly abundant. Admission to the woodland 

 choir has been denied to the entire flycatcher 

 family, on the ground that they have no voice 

 for music — a valid reason, certainly, for exclu- 

 sion, if the case be so with all this group. 



34 



