LIST AND DESCRIPTION 123 



song is incessant. The rather unattractive warble has been de- 

 scribed as "you see it — you know it — do you hear me, — do you 

 believe it?" 



627. Warbling Vireo (Vireosylva gilva gilva.) 



This is our most delightful Vireo. An inhabitant of the 

 high tree top and seldom seen, but heard almost any hour of the 

 day. Its song is a pleasing and all but incessant warble. No day 

 is too hot, even at the noon hour, to discourage its melody. 



Similar to No. 624 but lacks the gray crown with black 

 margin. 



627a. Western Warbling Vireo (Vireosylva gilva swainsoni.) 



This subspecies strays east to the western part of our 

 State. It is similar to the preceding but slightly smaller and 

 grayer. 



629. Blue-headed Vireo (Lanivireo soUtarius solitarius.) 



"A rare spring migrant" (Visher, for Clay County). Also 

 reported as common in migration for Iowa. 



62'9b. Plumbeous Vireo (Lanivireo solitarius plumbeus.) 



Reported by Chapman as "breeding in southwestern Da- 

 kota." 



633. Bell's Vireo (Vireo belli belli.) 



This "Greenlet" is a lover of tall underbrush and may be 

 found among the dogwood bushes of our river bottoms, in the 

 stunted growth of many tree claims, or wherever tall bushes are 

 to be found. It' keeps well away from the observer, but its wav- 

 ering and rather unmusical song is unmistakable. 



FAMILY MNI0TILTID;E. WARBLERS 



The Warbler family of the Western Hemisphere com- 

 prises about 140 species of small, beautifully colored birds, most 

 of them about the size of the Canary, Forty or fifty of the 

 species visit the United States, and most of them are migratory. 

 The Warblers are insect eating birds, and their migrations are 

 closely connected with this fact. They are nearly the last of the 

 whole bird procession to come north in spring. They arrive in 



