WHITE-EYED VIREO. 305 
against in threading our way through the thickets, and they are usually placed so low 
that one may look into them when standing on the ground. The tangled ravines along 
the course of Rock Creek, near the city just named, marking where numberless rivulets 
make into the main brook, are favorite resorts, where the nests will be found in a 
bunch of a sweet-brier, or on the wreathy stem of a blackberry bush, or, perhaps still 
oftener, at the very terminal fork of a slender, swaying branch of the sapling, whose 
lower limbs reach into some shady nook just over the bed of the rivulet—in any event, 
in a thicket, where the Catbirds, Thrashers, Chats, Cardinal Grosbeaks, Maryland 
Yellow-throats, and Carolina Wrens are all each other’s neighbors. The White-eye’s 
liking for low watery places is still further witnessed by its frequent, resort to the 
swamps that border the Potomac, in the same locality, where it nests about the very 
edges of the reedy tracts, and even in their midst, on the various little knolls that rise 
somewhat above water level. In August and September, when one goes shooting Reed- 
birds, Blackbirds, and Sora Rails, in the marshes that lie about Arlington, and along 
the course of the Eastern Branch, he is pretty sure to be scolded for his pains by one 
after another of these petulant little birds, which still linger in such places as I have 
described, in company with buffy colored young Maryland Yellow-throats, and number- 
less reed-ragged Marsh Wrens.” 
If we approach the breeding haunts of this bird, it becomes extremely and vocifer- 
ously irritated, and its chickty-beaver is heard louder than ever and with variations 
which denote the excitement. When in the central portion of our country on warm and 
sultry May and June days the feathered songsters fill the low thickets and the shrubbery 
on the woodland borders with their joyous lays and twitterings, the White-eyed Vireo 
is abundantly represented. When the Catbirds, Maryland Yellow-throats, Chats, 
Kentucky Warblers, Thrashers, and other tenants of such localities are silent, because 
the care for their nestlings leaves them no time for singing, this bird, while foraging, 
does not remit its peculiar notes. Only while returning with the bill full of food for the 
young ones, silence becomes a necessity for a few moments. Even the noon-day heat 
will not suppress those cheery notes. During the first few days after its arrival only the 
common call-note is heard, but later, when accustomed to its surroundings, the tones 
seem to change into a more perfect lay which, though not equalling in mellow loveliness 
that of the Red-eyed and Warbling Vireo, is still among the richest that are heard in 
the low thickets. The song is loud, varied, and melodious, and truly wonderful in the 
assiduity with which it continues to sing morn, noon, and eve from almost the time of 
its arrival till the days of its departure, when the leaves of its summer home assume 
red and golden hues, about the middle of September. Oft the notes are soft and plaintive, 
followed by loud and merry carols, so loud, indeed, that it seems impossible for so small 
a bird to be possessed of such force. 
“This Vireo,” says Dr. T. M. Brewer, “is one of the most conspicuous singers of 
this family. Its songs are more earnest and louder than those of any of our Eastern 
species, and exhibit the greatest variations, beginning in the earlier part of the season 
with a simple low. whistle, but changing in May into a very quaint and peculiar succession 
of irregular notes. Some of these are very softly and sweetly whistled, while others are 
uttered with a vehemence and shrillness that seem hardly possible in so small a bird.” 
39 
