204 



USEFUL BIRDS. 



Red-eyed Vireo. 



Vireosylva olivacea. 

 Length. — About six inches 

 Adult. — Upper parts grayish olire-green, changing to gray on the crown ; a darls: 



stripe on either side of the crown; a light stripe over eye, and a darlc 



streali from bill through eye ; under parts grayish- white, deepening to pale 



olive-yellow on the fianks; iris ruby-red. 

 Nest. — A pensile cup; usually hung by its upper edge from a fork, four to 



twenty-five feet from the ground. 

 Eggs. — White, spotted with dark brown at the larger end. 

 Season. — May to September. 



The Eed-eyed Vireo, although not so abundant as the 

 Eobin, is one of the most common and widely distributed 

 summer birds. It breeds throughout the State. It is very 



devoted to its eggs and 

 young, and sits very closely 

 on the nest. The mother 

 bird will often allow a per- 

 son to walk by within arm's 

 length while she remains 

 quietly sitting. The par- 

 ent birds feed and protect 

 their young for a long time 

 after they leave the nest. 

 This Vireo sleeps very 

 soundly ; soon after sunset and before the shades of night 

 have fallen the mother bird on her nest tucks her head under 

 her wing, and is sometimes so oblivious to the world that 

 she may be approached and taken in the hand. The Red- 

 eye is found wherever there are groups of deciduous trees, 

 or woodlands and thickets. Its movements as it slips about 

 among the branches are rather deliberate. It sings continu- 

 ally, but the song is intermittent, as if the bird were singing 

 incidentally as a pastime, like a boy whistling at his work. 

 The song is composed of phrases of a few syllables each, 

 and the manner of its delivery, with many rising and some 

 falling inflections and frequent pauses, led Wilson Flagg 

 to name the bird the " preacher." Many years ago I learned 

 that the preacher had other business than his preaching, and 

 that he practised as he preached ; for it was through watching 



Fig. 71. — Eed-eyed Vireo, natural size. 



